What is Love?
by dobegirl15
Summary: (Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more!) Jk, sorry, I had to do that. This story is a sequel to Cory's Birthday and The Matthews Persevere! Shawn's getting back from his last travel article trip soon! Cory & Topanga miss date nights after Serenity's born! Riley and Lucas wonder what's next in their relationship! What is love!
1. Breakfast

"Honey, can you go get Serenity?" Topanga called out.

"Yeah, I'll get her," Cory answered from the hallway.

Topanga was cooking breakfast for the family before school, and Maya and Riley were waiting (mostly) patiently at the table. Topanga pulled Serenity's high chair out of the corner and up to the table.

"Auggie!" Topanga called.

"Coming!" he yelled.

Then Cory walked out of the hallway holding Serenity and walked past Topanga. She put her arms out and took Serenity from Cory.

"How's my baby?" she cooed, kissing Serenity's cheek.

Serenity gurgled in response.

Topanga giggled and then turned to her husband.

"Thanks, sweetie," she said to him.

"Anytime," he said, pulling her hips to walk her toward him.

"Agh," Riley complained, using her hands to block the view.

Topanga smiled back at Cory and he pecked her lips. Then Serenity slapped her hand on her father's face.

"Ha!" Riley said. "Serenity agrees with me!" she chuckled.

"You know, I knew I liked that kid," Maya joked.

"I'm here!" Auggie announced as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good," Topanga said, putting Serenity in her high chair. "Eggs are almost done."

Auggie stopped and looked suspiciously at Topanga. "What kind of eggs?" He didn't like scrambled eggs.

Topanga sighed and rolled her eyes. "Sunny side up."

"Alright," Auggie said with a grin. He sat down next to Riley.

Cory sat down at the head of the table and then looked at Riley, who was smiling down at her phone.

"What's so funny?" he asked her.

"Oh, nothing," she said, the smile still apparent.

"Well there has to be something funny going on in that contraption," Cory insisted.

"No, there's nothing funny. I'm just talking to Lucas," she said, smiling down at her phone again.

"Oh," Cory said bitterly, making a face.

Topanga heard the bitterness in his voice and turned around. She gave him a look and he shrugged at her as if he didn't know what she was implying.

"Auggie, honey, would you set the table please?" Topanga asked.

"Fine," Auggie said with a sigh. He stood up and went to the cabinets. He reached his hands up and struggled to get the door open.

Topanga reached over and opened the cabinet, smiling at him.

"Thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," she replied.

Auggie got all the plates out and put them on the table. Then Topanga unplugged the griddle and grabbed the spatula.

"Alright, everyone," she said. "Bring up your plates."

The group all formed a line and Topanga put their eggs on their plates, one at a time.

When they all returned to their seats, Topanga grabbed a banana from the fruit basket. She peeled it and then put it on Serenity's tray in front of her. Then she grabbed a bib off of the counter and put it on her. Finally, Topanga got her eggs off of the griddle and sat down.

"So what're we going to do at school today?" Riley asked her dad.

"Well, we're going to-"

He was interrupted by Riley giggling at her phone.

"Riley, what's going on?"

She looked up innocently.

"Nothing, Dad. I already told you."

"No, that's not going to work this time. I want to know what's going on or you're going to lose your phone for the day," he said sternly.

"Dad!" Riley complained.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"I'm not going to tell you that- it's personal," Riley insisted.

"Not too personal for your father."

"You don't tell me everything you and Mom talk about," Riley came back.

"That's very different, Riley. We're adults, and adults don't tell kids everything they talk about."

"Well kids don't tell adults everything they talk about either," Riley said.

"Riley, don't talk to your father like that," Topanga said seriously.

"But Dad's being ridiculous!" Riley said, standing up.

Maya pulled her shoulder down to make her sit again. "Sit down and cool off, Riley."

Riley looked around at her family who was watching her. Then she sat down angrily and folded her arms.

"Riley, I'm not asking for that much. I just want to know what you're talking about. How do I know you and Lucas aren't…" he didn't finish his sentence, and he shivered at the thought of what he was going to say.

"Can't you trust me?" Riley asked, still angry.

"Yeah, I can trust you. But I've been given no reason to trust him."

"I bet your parents didn't hover over your phone conversations," Riley said.

"That's because I was the guy- they didn't have to worry about her making me do stuff," he said, pointing at Topanga.

Topanga's eyes grew wide at that. "Cory Matthews!"

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"What are you implying?" Topanga asked.

"Huh?"

"You said they didn't have to worry about me, but you have a reason to worry about Lucas? Is that because Riley and I are girls and you're guys?"

Cory stumbled over his words and then finally said, "No."

Topanga shook her head and said, "Okay. Prove it. Tell us all why you have to know what they're texting about."

"Thank you, Mom!" Riley said, relieved that someone took her side.

"That's enough, Riley," Topanga said, still looking at Cory.

"Okay, fine," Cory said, looking around at the table. "I need to know what you're talking about because…"

"Exactly," Topanga said, sitting back in her chair.

"Fine, whatever. You're right. But that's because I'm a guy and I know about guys. And I don't trust them."

"Did you need someone watching over you when you guys were dating?" Riley asked him.

"No, because I was responsible."

"So is Lucas."

"I don't know that and neither do you," Cory said.

"Yes I do," Riley said defiantly.

"How would you know that?"

"Because I love him," Riley said.

The table got quiet.

"You don't love him, Riley," Cory said. "You don't even know what love is."

"Dad, stop. I love him. It doesn't matter what you say because I know what's in our hearts," Riley said.

"Riley, you don't love him. You're a kid. You don't know anything about love, and I don't care what you say, you can't possibly know what it means to love somebody like that!"

Riley looked angrily at her father and then stood up and walked to the couch. She grabbed her backpack and then walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Maya looked around at the Matthews and then grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, guys, but I'd better go," Maya said. "Thanks for the eggs, Mrs. Matthews."

Topanga nodded at her and Maya walked out the door.

Topanga then turned her head and looked at Cory angrily.

"What?" he asked.

"How could you say that to her?" Topanga asked.

"Topanga, she's in eighth grade. There is no possible way she knows what love is. And for her to say that she loves him and knows she can trust him when they're only-"

"Cory!"

"What?"

"Can I see you in the other room please?"

He looked at Auggie and Serenity and then turned to look at Topanga.

"Yeah," he said. He got up and grabbed Serenity out of her high chair and he walked to their room.

"Finish eating please," Topanga said to Auggie.

"Alright," Auggie said.

Topanga walked into her room.

She walked in and closed the door.

"Cory, what did you say back there?"

"I said she's too young to know what love is," Cory said.

"Right. And I suppose you forgot how old we were when we said our I love yous the first time."

"Topanga, that's different. That was us. We've loved each other since we were two. And we were meant to be from the beginning," he said softly.

"Cory, how do you know they're not?"

He was silent for a few moments. Then he sighed and sat down on the bed.

"You're right. I don't," he said, looking up at her.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Topanga said softly. She walked over to him and sat next to him. She put her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I just don't want her to grow up so fast," Cory said quietly.

"Me either," Topanga admitted. "But we have to let her."

"I know."

Then they heard Serenity gabbling to herself from her bassinet.

"We have another one," Topanga said, looking up at him.

"We do," Cory said, looking at her. "Maybe by the time we get to her I won't be so easily spooked."

"Spooked?" Topanga asked, amused.

"Yeah. By a kid. A kid named Lucas Friar," Cory said, shaking his head.

Topanga chuckled. "Well, you know, if Riley gets to have what we have, then I want that for her. Wouldn't you?"

He looked down at her. "Yeah, I would. I wouldn't trade this for the world."

"Me either," Topanga said, smiling at him. She leaned up and kissed him gently. "And I want that for every one of our kids. Think of it this way: what if your dad or my dad decided he didn't want us to date. What if we never dated? What if I stayed in Pittsburg with my parents? Then none of this would have happened. Could you even imagine?"

"Never," he said.

"And what if what you're trying to do ruins Riley's relationship with Lucas? And what if they would go on to get married and have kids and be happy? But they wouldn't be able to because their relationship ended."

"You're right. I couldn't imagine life without you, Topanga. Who knows where I'd be."

"Then let our daughter have the same chance as we got," she said.

Cory nodded. "I love you so much, Topanga."

"I love you too, Cory. We have to thank our dads," she said, smirking.

"We do," Cory said. A mischievous grin appeared on his face and he leaned Topanga back and began kissing her.

"Cory, we have work," Topanga immediately interrupted.

"Poo," he said, sitting up, an irritated look on his face.

"But you know you're going to have to talk to Riley."

"Yeah, I know," Cory sighed.

"It'll be okay though. We'll talk to her together. I don't think it's unreasonable to have some rules. What do you think?"

"I think whatever you say, honey," he said with a grin.

Topanga rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Nice try," she said, grabbing Serenity and walking out of the room.

 **New story! Yay! :)**

 **So this is basically the sequel to The Matthews Persevere, which is the sequel to Cory's Birthday. Basically just a string of stories :)**

 **I think this one will have quite a bit of Corpanga in it too, because, well, I love them. Also, ShawnxKaty! This story takes place just before Shawn gets back from his last travel article! Also some Rucas! And I'll try to put some cute Serenity moments in there as well.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of the story idea! I love reading reviews, and I also love replying to them, so I really encourage you to get an account if you don't have one. It's super easy and you can follow stories and authors and get emails when they update!**

 **Thank you for reading :)**


	2. Breaking News

Riley stayed angry the whole way to school. Maya tried to cheer her up and get her to talk, but Riley refused. When they walked in the door of the school, Riley saw Lucas at his locker.

Without saying a word to Maya, Riley marched over to Lucas.

"Hey, wh-"

He was interrupted by Riley who had pulled his head toward her and began kissing him roughly. Maya's jaw dropped as she watched this display.

Lucas softly pushed her away and said, "Riley, stop."

"What?" Riley asked, annoyed.

"Okay, I can tell something's wrong. What is it?"

"Nothing, I just want to show you I love you." Riley reached for his head again and he backed away.

"Riley, I don't know what happened, but I don't like what you're doing."

"My dad told me that I don't love you. He told me that I don't know what love is, and that I have no way of knowing. Then he told me that he doesn't trust you and he wanted me to tell him what we were texting about," Riley said quickly, through her anger.

"Riley, don't worry about that. There's going to be people that don't understand or don't agree with us, but we just need to listen to their opinions and decide what's best for the both of us."

"But it's my _dad_. How can I live with myself knowing my dad doesn't support us?" Riley asked.

"Well, I know he's not going to like me no matter what. You're his first daughter, and he wants to protect you," Lucas said.

"But I don't need to be protected, Lucas. I'm almost 14 years old. I'm a teenager. He needs to let me live my life the way I want."

"I agree," Lucas said. "But I just don't think it's as easy as that."

"Well it should be," Riley said defiantly.

"Just promise me you won't let anyone get to you. You're perfect the way you are, and our relationship will go as it's supposed to. We're only in 8th grade, Riley. Obviously we wouldn't know what love is, like a couple married for 15 years. Love is different to everybody."

"Then what is it to us?" Riley asked.

"I don't know. I guess it's just being there for each other and wanting to help the other person in any way you can. And wanting to do that forever."

"That's the only way I can see it right now," Riley said.

"So no more kissing like that?" he asked her.

"No more," she said. Then she leaned up and kissed him softly. "That's all we need for now."

Lucas smiled at her and kissed her forehead. He put his arms around her shoulders and walked her to her class.

Maya, who had been watching, smiled at their conversation and walked behind them to her class.

xxxXXXxxx

That day after school, Maya arrived at her house to find her mother already there.

"Hey, Mom! You're home early."

"Yeah, I got off at two today," Katy said, looking at her phone.

"Oh. That's good," Maya said.

Then Katy looked up at Maya and smiled.

"What?" Maya asked.

"I was texting Shawn today."

"Yeah?"

"He said he's coming home in three days," Katy said with a grin.

"Really?!" Maya exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, this is great! Well, we have to have a party for him!"

"I think so, too. I wonder if the Matthews know yet."

Maya looked at her mom and gave her a look. "Mom, he's best friends with Mr. Matthews. Any second now I'll be getting a text from Riley about it."

Katy laughed. "I'm sure that's true." Then she stood up. She went to the window and looked out at the bright blue sky.

"I can't wait!" Katy said.

"Me either," Maya said, walking to her mom and putting her arm around Katy. "This just begs one question."

"What?" Katy asked.

"When's the wedding?"

Katy's face turned bright red and she looked back out the window.

"Mom?" Maya said, trying not to laugh. "You didn't forget about the wedding, did you?"

"No, of course not," Katy said. "It's just that I haven't seen him in a long time and I don't know how it's going to be."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Maya said. "You guys text all the time and I can't imagine he'd be thinking about anything else with all the time he spends on his phone."

"No, it's not that. It's just that I'm not used to being around him. Physically I mean."

"Oh," Maya said, laughing. "So you're worried about kissing him."

"Maya!" Katy said, turning her head sharply, and her face turned even redder.

"I know that's what you mean," Maya said, still laughing. "You don't know what he's going to be thinking about and you're worried that you won't know how to act."

"Okay, that's enough," Katy said.

Just then Maya's phone buzzed.

"Hey, I was right. It's Riley," Maya said.

"Breaking news," Maya read off of her phone. "Riley has breaking news, Ma. I wonder what that could be…" Maya joked.

"Well, you'd better text her back and tell her you already know," Katy said.

"Yeah," Maya said. She replied back to Riley, saying, _Shawn already told us._

A few seconds later she got a reply. _No, that's not it. I heard about Shawn, and I'm glad, but there's a different breaking news_.

 _What's that?_ Maya replied.

 _My parents said they didn't care if I date Lucas, and they don't care what we do._

 _That's great!_ Maya said, though she didn't understand why Cory would say that.

 _I don't like it,_ Riley replied.

 _Why not?_

 _It's a setup._

 _How do you know it's a setup?_ Maya asked.

 _My dad said he had no rules for when Lucas comes over. Day or night._

Riley was freaking out inside. She didn't know what was going on. Were her parents truly serious or were they trying to test her? Maybe they finally realized she was growing up. Or maybe they wanted to see if they could trust her.

"Why isn't Maya replying?" Riley mumbled to herself.

She was pacing around her room and trying to figure out her parents' motives. She was tossing her phone between her hands as she walked, waiting for a reply.

"Hey-ya, girly."

Riley jumped, not expecting to see Maya sitting at her window.

"Maya! You can't do that! I'm too jumpy for that. Anyways, I'm glad you're here," Riley said, walking to sit next to Maya.

"Well, this is serious. I didn't think it would be that serious. How exactly did they say it?" Maya asked.

"I don't know. They just said they decided that it's my business what Lucas and I do and they don't have any reason to try to get involved."

"Ooh," Maya interjected.

"And then they said that they don't care how often we go out or where we go or when we go out. They said it doesn't matter how late because it's my decision. Maya, what do I do?" Riley asked in a panic.

"Well, if it were me, I'd just enjoy it," she said with a grin. "Riley, this is great! You have no curfew and no rules! Any teenager would kill for this!"

"I don't want it," Riley said, shaking her head furiously.

Maya sighed.

"What would you do if you were me?" Riley asked.

"If I were you, I'd definitely be aware that this is a test."

"Oh, no," Riley said.

"Yep. But you have to see how far they're willing to take it in order to find out exactly what their goal is."

"What does that mean?" Riley asked.

"Test _them_. You need to have Lucas over late into the night. Obviously don't do anything that's against the normal rules, but make sure he stays here late. As long as they're okay with it, break the normal rules more and more to see where their breaking point is. When you find that, you have the key."

"What key?"

"You'll know what they actually want you to do," Maya said.

"This is going to get me into a lot of trouble in the end, isn't it?" Riley asked.

"Well, it's either that or you keep growing more and more nervous and you end up being so paranoid that you're scared to walk out the door."

"Alright, fine," Riley said with a sigh. "Where do we start?"

 **Chapter 2! What do you think Cory and Topanga are doing? Why would they tell Riley this? And how do you think Shawn and Katy are going to act together? Tell me what you think!**

 **Please review! :)**


	3. Mysteries

A few hours earlier…

Cory and Topanga had arrived home early in order to prepare for their talk with Riley. Topanga had picked up Serenity from her babysitter's and carried her in the apartment. She put her in her bouncer seat and then rolled her over to the couch so she could sit down.

Cory walked in the door a few seconds later and put his bag down on the chair.

"Hey, honey," Cory greeted her.

"Hi, sweetie," Topanga replied. "Are you sure you aren't going to miss anything at school?"

"All the kids have left is recess and a study hall. I got another teacher to cover for me- it's fine."

"Okay, good," Topanga said, standing. She went over to Cory and gave him a hello kiss.

"So now we have to rehash?" he asked.

"Yep. Let's rehash this morning and figure out what we're going to do about Riley."

"Alright. Riley was texting Lucas about who knows what, and she refused to tell me anything about what they were saying," Cory said, walking over to greet Serenity.

"And then you proceeded to say that you didn't trust Lucas because he's a guy- a very sexist comment, might I add?"

Cory sighed. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I didn't mean to be sexist. I completely respect girls and guys equally. I just know that teenage boys tend to be…rambunctious."

"I agree," Topanga said, giving him a look.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Cory, you give yourself a lot of credit, but you were just the same as all the other guys. The only difference was that I forced you to behave," she said, pointing at him.

"I was not! I was perfectly in control of everything that I did. I chose to be responsible," Cory said, mostly to comfort himself.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself, Cory. The point is, I trust Riley. I think that she is perfectly capable of having a mind of her own, and I don't think she's going to let herself get into any bad situations. She's way too anxious, much like you," she said with a smirk.

"So you think she's able to determine what's good for her? You think she can decide what's best for her?" Cory asked incredulously.

"In her relationship, yes."

"So we should just let her have free reign?" Cory asked.

"I'm not saying free reign, but-"

"No, that's what you said, Topanga. You said that she can decide for herself what to do in…her relationship," Cory said, trying not to think about the last part.

"Okay, yeah. That's what I said."

"Then it's settled," Cory said.

"What's settled?"

"We'll tell her she can do whatever she wants. No rules."

"Cory, you know that's not what I mean. I just want you to let her have some credit."

"No, I perfectly understand. You don't think I can relax and trust our daughter. Well, Missy, I'm about to prove you wrong. I'm going to tell Riley that she can do anything she wants. She can stay out as late as she wants, do what she wants, whatever."

Topanga, who had full trust in her daughter, knew that she would still make the right decisions, so she just smiled to herself. She knew Cory would drive himself crazy over this, so she let him go ahead. She looked forward to seeing him slowly freak out. It was kind of funny to see him act like that.

"Okay, fine with me," Topanga said, still smiling. "I can't wait to watch this."

"What?" Cory asked, confused.

"Nothing, honey."

xxxXXXxxx

The next day, Riley didn't know how to act around her parents. She was really nervous to walk into the kitchen for breakfast. She knew that she had to set her plan in motion, so she realized that she'd eventually have to go out there. Finally, she took a deep breath and walked out.

"Morning, honey," Topanga said.

"Good morning," Riley said cautiously.

"Just cereal today," Topanga said. "Sorry, I didn't get up early enough to make anything."

"That's okay," Riley said, careful to make sure she didn't make her parents mad.

"So what are you going to do after school today?" Topanga asked, glancing at Cory to make sure he was listening. He was.

"Oh, well…" Riley began. _This is it_ , she thought. "I'll be over at Maya's right after school to help set up for the party for Shawn."

"Okay," Topanga said. She got up and put her bowl in the sink. She glanced at Cory and saw that he looked content.

"And I'd eat dinner over there," Riley said.

"That's fine," Topanga said.

"And then I'll probably get home late."

Cory raised an eyebrow, definitely interested now in what Riley was saying.

"And then I thought I'd have Lucas over," Riley said, scanning her parents' faces.

Topanga didn't show any change in emotion on her face, but Cory looked as if he just stubbed his toe and was trying not to show.

"I mean, you guys told me there were no rules, so-"

"That's right," Cory interrupted, standing up quickly. He walked over to the sink and put his bowl in it. Then he kissed Topanga, leaned down to kiss Serenity's forehead in the high chair, and rustled Auggie's hair. Then he nodded at Riley, grabbed his bag, and walked out the door without a word.

Riley, who had watched this reaction carefully, tried to think about what that meant.

 _Is that already the breaking point? Or am I waiting for a bigger reaction?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother.

"He can't take it," Topanga said, laughing nearly uncontrollably.

"What are you talking about?" Riley asked.

"Nothing," Topanga said, still laughing. She put her hand up and shook her head to dismiss her comment.

Riley wrinkled her eyebrows, wondering what the heck was going on at her house.

She stood up slowly and grabbed her backpack.

"Do I have to take Auggie to school?" Riley asked.

"No," Topanga said, still laughing.

Riley looked at Auggie and saw that he had the same look as she did. He looked confused and almost concerned.

"Okay," Riley said.

She walked toward the door and then turned around to look at the scene.

Auggie was looking at her and she saw him mouth the word, "Help."

Riley half-smiled at Auggie and mouthed, "Good luck."

Then she turned around and walked out the door.

xxxXXXxxx

At school, Riley told Maya about what happened and Maya looked as confused as she and Auggie had been.

"Wait, so your mom was _laughing_?" Maya asked.

"Yeah," Riley said, staring into space. She couldn't believe that had just happened.

"So she was laughing at your dad?"

"I guess."

"Okay, this is clearly more complicated than I thought," Maya said.

"Great," Riley said sarcastically.

"There's obviously something going on between them that they're not telling you. But I…I just don't know, Riles."

"How can this happen?! Riley asked. "My situation has stumped the mastermind of plotting. The scam artist herself."

"This is uncharted territory," Maya said, shaking her head slowly in disappointment in herself.

"Watch my dad today and we'll see if he acts weird," Riley said.

"Okay, but I don't know what we're going to figure out from him in school."

"Should I still go ahead with our plan?"

"Definitely. Ask Lucas to come over tonight, and make sure your dad can hear you," Maya said.

"Okay. I'm more scared than I've ever been in my little life, but okay."

They walked into the classroom and saw that Cory was sitting as his desk, grading papers. Lucas wasn't there yet, so Riley just sat down at her desk.

When Lucas walked in, Riley quickly stood and went to him.

"Hey, Riley," Lucas greeted her with a smile.

"Hi," she said. "I have a question for you."

"Okay?"

"Do you want to come over today?" she asked.

"I'd love to," he said, smiling.

"Around nine," Riley added.

"Nine?" Lucas questioned.

"Yeah."

"Why nine?"

"I'll be at Maya's till then. And I still want to see you."

"Is it okay with your parents?" he asked.

They both looked at Cory, who was obviously eavesdropping. Cory quickly looked away when he saw them look at him.

"My parents are okay with it. I already talked to them about it," Riley said.

"Okay then," Lucas said. "I'll see you at nine."

"See you at nine," Riley said.

As she walked back to her desk, she looked at her father. He was clearly irritated and wanted to say something to Riley, but he didn't.

The rest of the school day went by just as awkwardly. Riley tried to watch her father's reactions, and Cory tried to eavesdrop and yet avoid Riley so that he didn't have to talk about things, but still knew what was going on. Riley was very nervous for the night that lay ahead.

 **So now you know how Cory and Topanga got to that decision. How do you think the night's going to go? It'll be interesting, that's for sure.**

 **Please review!**


	4. Encouragement

"Alright, Riles," Maya said. "You've done your part and now it's 8:30 and I think it's about time for you to head home."

Riley looked at the clock and gulped. She looked around and saw the big sign they'd made and all the preparing they did. They would definitely be ready for the party in two days.

"You're right," Riley said.

Maya started laughing.

"What?" Riley asked.

"You look absolutely petrified," she said in her laughter.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"Nothing's going to happen, Riley. You're just seeing Lucas at a different time, that's all. Look at it that way."

"It's not that," Riley said. Then she paused. "Okay, it is that. That's part of it. But the other part is that my parents…well, I don't know what they're going to do. I mean, Lucas might not get out of this alive. What do I do exactly with Lucas at nine o'clock at night?"

"Like I said, keep pushing it. First, have him in the living room. Then take him to your room to show him something, but come back. Then go back up there for a really long time. I mean, if you _really_ want to get them, you could probably have him sleep in there-"

"No," Riley interrupted, shaking her head. "That's too inappropriate. Plus, he'd never do that anyway. He's too much of a gentleman," she said fondly.

"Should've known," Maya said, shaking her head. "You might not get to their breaking point then."

"Maya, no. I don't need that kind of drama right now."

"Well, at least talk about it with him," Maya said.

"Talk about what?"

"Having him stay there. Fake sick or something."

"Maya, I can't lie to him."

"Do you want to fix this thing with your parents or not?" Maya asked. Then she walked Riley to the door.

"Yes, but I don't need to add more fuel to the fire. See you tomorrow, Maya."

"See you later," Maya said, shutting the door as Riley left.

xxxXXXxxx

When Riley walked in the door, her parents were snuggled on the couch. Cory was lying on his back with his arm around Topanga, who was lying practically on top of him, with her head on his chest. A blanket was wrapped around them and Cory was playing with a piece of Topanga's long hair.

"Hey, Riley," Topanga greeted her.

"Riley," Cory nodded.

Topanga looked up at Cory and gave him a look.

"Hey, guys," Riley said. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:47.

"When's Lucas coming over?" Topanga asked.

"In about 15 minutes," Riley said.

"Okay, do you want us to go somewhere else?" Topanga asked.

"Uh…you don't have to leave."

"No, that's okay, we'll leave. Right Cory?"

Cory looked at Topanga and slowly nodded, not saying a word.

"But you don't have to," Riley said.

"We will," Topanga said. "You and Lucas can have your privacy."

Topanga took the blanket off of them and sat up.

Riley didn't say anything, but Cory and Topanga stood up and walked into their bedroom.

"Good night," Riley said.

"Good night, sweetheart," Topanga said.

"Good night," Cory added.

Then they were gone. Riley looked around and saw that the apartment was empty and eerily quiet. It was just her. She put her backpack on a chair by the table and went to sit on the couch to wait for Lucas to arrive.

xxxXXXxxx

When Cory and Topanga got to their bedroom, Cory hurried to shut the door and then said, "What is going on?"

"What do you mean 'what is going on?'" Topanga asked.

"I mean you just left our daughter out there to be by herself with a boy!"

"Isn't that what you wanted? To prove that you could be relaxed?"

"Yeah, but don't you think this is taking it a little too far?" Cory asked.

"Cory, I'm only doing what you said- free reign, remember?" she asked, pulling the covers back from the bed.

"But…I don't think- well, I don't know if this is exactly…"

"What, it's not what you expected would happen?" Topanga asked.

"Frankly, no."

"Well, it was your idea to say no rules, so I don't feel bad about it," Topanga said with a shrug. She sat down on the bed and put her feet under the covers.

"Topanga, how can you go to sleep knowing what might happen out there?"

She gave him a look. "Cory, do you _honestly_ believe that Riley would do anything she knows she's not supposed to?"

"Well, she's having Lucas over now, isn't she?"

"I think this is just testing how much she can do," Topanga said. "Which is only natural for a child to do when she's told she can do whatever she wants."

"But how do we know when he leaves?" Cory asked.

"We don't. We trust her. We trust our daughter that we have taught her well enough to know what is right and wrong. That's what you wanted, after all," she said.

"Right," Cory said, nodding to himself. "That's what I wanted," he said, sighing.

He climbed into bed and scooted over next to Topanga.

"Can you trust our daughter?" Topanga asked him.

"Can you?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"Then I can too."

"Good. Because I think he's here."

"What?" Cory said, jumping toward the door.

"Cory, stop."

"Why should I? Our daughter is out there with a boy, and I don't like it. So what if I trust her? I still don't trust him."

"Riley has a mind of her own and she'll be fine. Come to bed?" Topanga asked him.

Cory looked from his wife to the door and then sighed and walked back to the bed. He sat on the bed and pulled the covers up.

"Come here," Cory said, holding his arms out.

Topanga smiled at him and laid down next to him, letting him wrap his arms around her.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you," Cory said.

She kissed him and then smiled.

"I'm proud of you," Topanga said.

"Why?" Cory scoffed.

"Because you're here and you're not out there freaking out," Topanga said with a grin.

"Well, there's a small bit of motivation for me in here," he chuckled.

Topanga grinned and kissed him again.

"Good night," Cory said.

"Good night, honey," Topanga said.

That night they fell asleep in each other's arms, and Cory's dreams were mostly consisting of Topanga rather than his stress about Riley.

 **Little bit of Corpanga there :) Love them so much. The next chapter will be Rucas.**

 **Also, people have been asking about Joshaya- I'll say the same thing I said in my other story. I try to write as realistically as I can, and I really feel like the story writes itself. So I only write what I think would actually happen. Because Josh is going to be in college soon and Maya's only in 8** **th** **grade, I think it's too much of an age gap. Trust me, I'm as much of a Joshaya shipper as you all, but I don't think it's appropriate right now. There may be a hint of it, but there won't be any relationship. Sorry :(**

 **I hope you're all excited for Girl Meets Gravity tomorrow! I know I am!**

 **Please review!**


	5. Intimate Conversations

There was a knock at the door, and Riley jumped. She took a deep breath and then she walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hey," Lucas said with a smile.

"Hey," Riley said.

They stood there, just looking at each other for a second.

"Well, come in," Riley said, realizing she had to invite him in.

"Thanks," Lucas replied, walking in. He set his coat down on a chair near the door and then went to sit on the couch.

"So how are you, Lucas?" Riley asked.

"I'm good. Where are your parents, Riley?" he asked.

"Oh, um, they're already asleep."

A look of concern swept over Lucas's face and he stood up.

"I think I should go," Lucas said.

"No!" Riley said quickly.

He stopped and looked at Riley.

"It's just that they were tired. They know you're here. It's fine, Lucas, really," Riley said.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Perfectly sure," Riley said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Okay then," he said, sitting back down. "So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Riley said, sitting on the couch awkwardly. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Lucas said. They both looked at each other and realized they were sitting nearly three feet apart.

Riley scooted closer then, and she looked up at him.

"Riley, why did you invite me here?" he asked.

She fumbled for words and then said, "I just wanted to have you over, that's all.

"But why?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess I just thought that maybe we could…talk."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know."

"You're saying that a lot today. Is something wrong, Riley?"

"No. I'm just a little anxious is all."

"Because of me?" he asked, confused.

"Partly," she admitted.

"Why?"

"Well, I don't know exactly what's next."

"What do you mean 'what's next?'"

"Like right now," Riley said.

"What about right now?" Lucas asked.

"What do we do?"

"Well, we're talking," Lucas said.

"But what if we didn't talk? What would we do then?"

"Huh?"

"What's next for us, Lucas?" Riley asked.

"You mean in our relationship?" he asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I know we've established that _right now_ things are fine. But what's going to be next? After _right now_ is over?"

"I think we'll figure that out when we get to that point," Lucas said. "There's no need to plan things out. We just let things happen naturally. When the right time comes."

"But when is the right time?"

"I guess we'll just know when it comes," Lucas said.

"How do we know that…now…isn't the right time?" Riley asked, eyes wide with innocence.

He looked at her and was torn about what to do. He wanted to move their relationship forward, there was no doubt about that, but he wanted to do the right thing.

When Riley leaned forward and began kissing him, he figured out that Riley had decided, and he went along with it.

He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her, and she followed suit. Soon they were closer than they'd ever been, and Riley began to be glad that her parents let her be free to do whatever she wanted.

They ended up watching a movie together, and Riley leaned against Lucas, eventually falling asleep. Lucas was almost lying down, and Riley had her hand over his chest, sleeping on his side.

About 6am…

There was a small noise from the hallway and Riley jumped, forcing her and Lucas apart.

They looked up and saw the angry, shocked, and horrified face of Cory. They jumped even further apart.

"Dad, I swear, nothing bad's happening," Riley said.

"Mr. Matthews, I didn't do anything, I swear," Lucas said.

Cory opened his mouth to scream, but he stopped himself. He repeated this about three times, and then eventually yelled, "TOPANGA!"

Riley cringed at the loud yelling, and Lucas looked at Riley with concern and worry in his face.

Topanga came running out of the hallway yelling, "What, Cory?!"

She stopped when she saw Lucas and Riley on the couch and then turned to give Cory a look.

"Topanga, you don't know- you didn't see. They were…they…" he couldn't finish his sentence as his breathing intensified too much.

"Cory, honey, you have to get ready for work," she said, rubbing his arm. Then she turned to Riley. "We'll talk about this later," she said, pointing her finger.

Then Topanga proceeded to pull the reluctant Cory into the hallway. He continued looking back with a horrified expression.

When he was gone, Lucas stood up.

"I think I need to go, Riley," he said, standing up and taking his coat. "I'm sorry."

Riley watched, speechless, as he walked out the door.

xxxXXXxxx

"Topanga, you did NOT see what just happened! I told you we can't trust her!" Cory yelled.

"Cory, we don't know what happened. And you know what- they probably just accidentally fell asleep."

"Topanga, we don't know that! How can we trust our daughter if she thinks it's okay for her to sleep on the couch with a boy?!"

"I'm sure it was an accident," Topanga said, picking clothes out of her closet.

"But we don't know that!"

"Cory, please, I'm getting a headache and I can't work well with a headache," Topanga said.

"Well I can't work very well knowing that my daughter thinks it's okay to fall asleep with a boy!" Cory exclaimed, getting more worked up.

Topanga turned around, giving him a death glare, and he immediately realized he had to stop talking.

"Cory, we did the same thing in, what, seventh grade?" she said.

"No, we didn't!" Cory claimed.

"Yes, Cory. We did. And we turned out okay, didn't we?"

"Topanga, we _never_ fell asleep at night and then woke up next to…ohhh."

"See? We did the same thing. And it was an accident, wasn't it?"

"Completely," Cory said.

"So don't you think the same thing could've happened with Riley?" Topanga asked him.

"Ah…well, I…probably not. That was another time, Topanga."

Topanga rolled her eyes and continued picking her clothes out.

Then they heard the cries of Serenity coming from the other room.

"Topanga, don't you think we need to talk more about this?" Cory asked.

"No, I don't. It was your idea in the first place that we should let Riley have 'free reign,'" she said with air quotes. "And now you're upset because she did just that. According to our new standards, she didn't do anything wrong, Cory. And that's how she sees it."

"But-"

"Serenity is crying and I now have a headache, so can you please go and get her out of her crib?" Topanga asked.

"Fine," Cory said, sulking all the way to Serenity's room.

He brought the baby back, and she had settled down a little, but reached out for her mother.

Topanga smiled at her baby and pulled her into her arms.

"Good morning, beautiful," she said to Serenity with a smile. "It's okay. Mommy's here."

Serenity stopped crying and began her favorite activity- playing with Topanga's hair. Soon it was caught between her baby fingers and Cory, who had calmed down significantly, walked around to untangle the mess.

Topanga turned toward him and said, "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Topanga," Cory said.

Topanga gave him a small smile.

"I just…I don't know what comes over me! I can't control how angry I get. And I don't know how I'm supposed to if stuff like this keeps happening."

"Cory, she's going to grow up. You can't stop it, I can't stop it. You have to let her. And it was only your stubbornness that you allowed her to do this," she reminded him with a smirk.

"I know," Cory said quietly. "Will you forgive me?"

"Always," Topanga said. She gave him a kiss and then walked out to the living room to put Serenity in her playpen.

 **How'd you guys like the chapter? I'm really excited about the story! Corpanga and Rucas!**

 **Also, how do you guys like the GMW premiere week so far?! I loved Gravity, loved New World even more, and loved Secret of Life even more than that! I had no idea Peyton Meyer was such a good actor, but he's amazing! SO excited to see Feeny and Eric the next two nights! :)**

 **Please review! :)**


	6. Riley Freaks Out

As soon as Lucas left, Riley panicked. She stood up from the couch and put her hand to her head, trying to remember what happened. Then it all came flooding back.

They were tired, the movie was calming, and it was late- too late to walk around in New York. So when she had told herself that Lucas needed to go home, it was easy to convince herself that it didn't matter. He could stay. It would be okay.

Except it wasn't. She knew that as soon as her mom was done talking with her dad, he would come and yell at her.

Then she remembered how Maya had told her to have Lucas spend the night. She had told Maya no, that she didn't want the drama that came with it. She didn't intend for it to happen.

And now, because she was careless, she let it happen. And now her dad was going to kill her. And Lucas.

Riley looked at the clock and noticed it was about time to get ready for school, so she walked into the hallway to go to her room.

She heard noise coming from behind her parents' door, so she hurried past it and quietly shut the door once she got in her room.

She saw her phone sitting on her dresser, where she'd put it last night to charge. She picked it up and her shaking hands scrolled through the contacts until she got to Peaches. She clicked the name and pressed dial.

It rang for a few seconds, then, to Riley's great relief, she heard, "Hello?"

"Maya! I need help!"

"Oh, no," Maya said. "What happened now?"

"Remember how you told me to have Lucas stay over?"

"Yeah?"

"And how I said I didn't want the drama?"

"Yeah?" Maya said, excitement growing in her voice.

"Well…it kind of happened."

"What?!" Maya screamed into the phone. "What happened exactly?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Riley said quickly. "We just accidentally fell asleep on the couch."

"Ooh!" Maya taunted.

"No, Maya! It wasn't like that! We watched a movie and fell asleep. Then my dad came out and-"

"Your dad saw you?!" Maya interrupted.

"Yeah," Riley said, upset.

"What did he do?"

"He almost screamed at me, but he yelled for my mom. Then she came and took him away."

"Seriously?" Maya asked incredulously.

"Yeah! Maya, he almost had a heart attack. It was _really bad_."

"No, that's not why I said seriously."

"Then why did you say it?" Riley asked, confused.

"Because you still haven't reached the breaking point," Maya said.

"Yes I have!" Riley said. "Didn't you hear me? My dad almost had a heart attack!"

"But then your mom came and made him stop. She fixed the situation. She didn't want the test to be over yet. In her mind, this wasn't the worst you could do. You didn't get to the breaking point."

"But Maya!" Riley complained. "I can't go any further with this! I'm just going to come clean and let my father know what's going on."

"No, Riley! You can't give in! You can't let them win!"

"Maya, I said I wouldn't go this far, and I didn't mean to. And I'm _not_ going to let it go any more. It's done."

"Riley, just wait," Maya said.

"On what?"

"It'll happen."

"When?" Riley asked.

"I don't know, Pumpkin. But do you want to be so controlled by your father for the rest of your life? Or do you finally want to take a stand? To say that this is your life and you can live it how you want to?"

"Maya…I really want to do that, but I can't."

Maya sighed.

"I have to get ready for school. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Okay," Maya said.

"Bye," Riley said.

"Bye," Maya replied.

They ended their phone call.

Riley sighed and sat down on her bed.

Then there was a knock at the door and it opened immediately.

Cory poked his head in the door and Riley nearly jumped.

"Riley, can I come in please?" he asked.

Riley was shocked at how calm he was.

"Yeah," she said, still keeping her distance.

Cory walked in the room and shut the door softly. Then he went to Riley and sat next to her.

Riley waited for him to say the first thing, scared that anything she'd say would anger him.

"So, can we talk about what just happened?" Cory asked.

 _Here it goes,_ Riley thought.

"Yeah," she said.

"I just wanted to apologize for freaking out on you," Cory said.

Inside, Riley was freaking out. _What is this?_ she thought. _How is he not yelling at me right now?!_

"Apologize to me?" Riley asked.

"Yeah," Cory said. "I shouldn't have yelled like that. I should trust you more. It's clear that…nothing happened."

"Really?" Riley asked.

Cory nodded.

Riley's conscience was instantly yelling at her. She knew she needed to apologize too.

Cory kissed her head and then stood up and opened the door.

"Wait, Dad," Riley said.

He turned around.

"I need to apologize to you, too."

"You don't need to apologize to me, Riley," Cory said, smiling at her.

"Yes, I do. See, you don't know the whole story," Riley said.

Cory's eyes widened and his expression became serious. He closed the door carefully and then walked back to Riley.

"What do you mean?" he asked, scared to listen.

"I mean there was more to last night than you think," she said, looking down.

"Like what?" Cory asked, growing more anxious.

"See, I invited Lucas over late at night for a reason."

"Oh my gosh," Cory said, covering his mouth. He turned around and walked a few steps, running his hands over his face. "Why?" he asked, turned back to her.

"I wanted to have him over late and Maya told me maybe I should make him stay the night, and-"

"Maya did this?!" he yelled.

"No! I didn't mean to take her advice! It was an accident!" Riley yelled.

"How could that have been an accident?" Cory asked, getting mad.

"I didn't want to have Lucas stay the night, but we watched a movie and we both just fell asleep! There was nothing more to it! I didn't plan for that!"

"Why did you invite him over at nine o'clock?" he asked angrily.

"Because…you're testing me and I thought I needed to test you, too."

"What?" Cory asked, confused.

"I know that you're testing me, okay? That's why you told me I could do whatever I wanted. And I hated it! I wanted to know why you were doing this, and Maya said that I had to break the test, and that was the only way to end it. So that's what I tried to do. I tried to break the boundaries so I could stop the test," Riley said with a sigh.

"Wait, so _you_ were testing _us_?" Cory asked.

"Yeah. You mad?"

Cory chuckled a little and sat back down.

"Now it makes a lot more sense," he said, shaking his head.

"What does?"

"You acting so weird. I knew it was weird that you invited him over so late. I just thought you were in your rebellious phase. Boy am I glad that's not the case!" he said, grinning and pulling his daughter into a hug.

"Well now that I've told you what my test was, can you tell me what yours was?" she asked.

"To tell you the truth, it wasn't really a test on you. Your mom was pulling a test on _me_."

Riley crinkled her eyebrows, trying to figure that out, but eventually said, "What?"

"Yeah. She said I didn't trust you and she wanted me to prove that I could," he said, chuckling.

"That's why you gave me free reign!" Riley said, understanding.

"Yes, that's why we gave you free reign."

"Dad, I hated that."

"So did I."

"Can we never give me free reign again?" Riley asked hopefully.

Cory laughed and said, "Music to my ears. Deal." He reached his hand out and shook her hand.

Riley sighed with relief. "I'm glad. Now I don't have to worry about this anymore."

"I'm glad too."

"Dad, you know what would work better?" Riley asked.

"What?"

"No more tests. Can't we just be honest with each other?"

Cory smiled. "We've taught you well. That's a great idea. No more tests. I can find other ways to see if you're responsible."

"Perfect," Riley said, smiling.

"Actually, I have an idea right now," he said.

"Okay."

"You girls got a lot of decorating done for Shawn's party, right?"

"Yeah," Riley said, not knowing where this was going.

"Good, because I need you to do something for me tonight."

"Oh, no," Riley said, not liking where it was going.

"You're going to babysit Auggie and Serenity so your mom and I can go out," Cory said with a grin.

Riley groaned. "At least it's better than tests," she said.

"Way better than tests," Cory agreed. Then he stood up.

"Wait, where are you going?" Riley asked.

"I've got to go tell your mother all the good news!" he exclaimed with a grin.

"But what am I going to do with Auggie and Serenity?" she asked.

Cory shrugged. "You're responsible enough. You can come up with something."

With that, Cory walked out the door and left Riley, sitting confused.

 **The testing is over! Now that Cory and Riley have made up, the second part of that story is coming into effect. So in the next chapter or two, there will be lots of Corpanga! And adventures in babysitting! (That was sort of a pun, considering Sabrina's doing a movie of that!)**

 **Okay, Girl Meets Mr. Squirrels was amazing. I laughed so much and Will was so good! I hope you all helped trend #ProudofWill to show support.**

 **I absolutely LOVED Pluto! It was so good! The Boy Meets World fan in me was practically crying with excitement and nostalgia! Loved seeing Feeny, loved Rider (he was so funny and serious all in the same episode) and same with Sabrina. Ben was also VERY funny. And the Corpanga was pretty sweet. Loved it. Thought I would be super mad about Lauren's letter, but I'm glad it was there for a good reason, not a bad one.**

 **Anyways, I could rant forever about Pluto. Sorry for the long note!**

 **Please review and let me know what you think of the chapter! Thank you for reading! :)**


	7. Date Night

When Riley got to school that morning, she was dreading running into Maya. Maya had told her to stay strong and she hadn't.

"Hey," Maya greeted her happily.

"Oh, hi," Riley said, jumping a little.

Maya's face immediately turned to a frown and she said, "What did you do?"

"What do you mean, 'what did I do?'" Riley asked, trying to avoid the subject.

"I know you did something. And you know I'm going to find out eventually. So come on- spill it."

Riley's face showed signs of caving and she eventually closed her eyes and sighed.

"The test is over," Riley said, scared to look at Maya.

"Really?! That's great! What did you do?" Maya asked, excited. "Wait. You were upset, so I know this isn't going in a good direction. You didn't tell him what was going on, did you?"

The look on Riley's face only showed guilt as she tried to smile at Maya.

Maya scowled.

"What?" Riley asked. "It fixed everything, didn't it?"

"Did it?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Riley said, thinking this might be okay.

"So you're free?" Maya asked.

"Yeah!"

"Great! Now you don't have to be home checking up on them. So I guess we'll finish decorating right after school?"

The same look returned to Riley's face, showing guilt.

"You're not free?" Maya asked, not impressed.

"I _may_ have to babysit."

"Riley! See! You're not free!" Maya complained.

"No, it's just for tonight. Trust me. After this I'm free."

"But what about decorating?" Maya asked.

"Well, I won't be able to help. I'm sorry, Maya."

"I guess I can finish it," Maya said, sighing.

"I'm really sorry, Maya!"

"No, it's okay. It's only for one night, right?"

"Yeah," Riley said.

Maya took the answer and turned to walk into the classroom, and Riley followed, but she wasn't so sure.

xxxXXXxxx

That night when Cory got home, he was greeted by Riley.

"Hi, Daddy!" Riley said cheerily.

"Hey, honey. Where's Mom?" he asked. He walked to the kitchen table and put his bag down on a chair.

"She's getting ready. She said if you got home to tell you that she'd be out in a few minutes," Riley said.

"Well, I can still go into our room," Cory said, half-laughing.

"Actually, she said not to," Riley said.

Cory turned, confused, and said, "Why not?"

"I don't know. She's getting ready."

"Well where's everybody else?" he asked.

"Serenity's with Mom and Auggie's downstairs at Dewey's house until you guys leave."

Cory glanced to the hallway and then sat down at the table.

"Are you ready to watch them tonight?" he asked Riley.

"Yeah," Riley said.

"What are you going to do?" Cory asked.

"Well, I'm going to warm up leftovers for dinner. I thought we could play a game and maybe end the night with a movie," Riley said, looking for approval.

"That sounds good," Cory said.

"Good."

Then Riley looked up and smiled. Cory turned around to see what she was looking at and saw his beautiful wife.

She had her hair half-up and the rest wavy, a beautiful flowery print dress, and small pink heels to match. She was standing there, smiling widely, emanating pure happiness.

Cory only stared at her for a moment. He hadn't seen her dress herself up in a long time. _She's always beautiful. Now she looks gorgeous._

Auggie opened the door to the apartment and flocked to his mother's side when he saw her standing there. Serenity came around the corner after him to stand behind Topanga in her baby walker.

"Hey, sweetie," Topanga greeted Auggie.

Cory walked to Topanga, only seeing her, not noticing anything else around him.

"Do you think this'll work alright?" Topanga asked him, smoothing her dress down.

"Topanga, you look beautiful," he said in awe.

"Thank you, Cory," Topanga replied, still smiling.

He took her hands and kissed her gently.

"I'm the luckiest man in the world," he said.

Topanga's heart melted at hearing those words and she kissed him again.

"I'm not even ready yet," Cory said. "But I don't want to leave you for a second. Someone might walk by and snatch you up."

Topanga chuckled and took his arm as he escorted her into the hallway.

"Well that was thoroughly disgusting," Riley heard.

She turned around and saw Maya standing next to her.

"Maya! What are you doing here?"

"The door was open, so I just…walked in."

"But aren't you supposed to be decorating?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, but we can do that tomorrow before everyone gets here. We don't have that much to do. And besides, I can't leave my best friend all alone," Maya said, pulling Riley into a side-hug.

"Oh, thanks, Maya!" Riley said, beaming.

"Auggie, is that okay?" Maya asked.

"Eh, sure. Whatever," Auggie said, waving it away.

Maya chuckled. Then she looked at the hallway.

"Uh, Riles?"

"Yeah?"

"I think your sister's stuck."

Riley looked at the hallway and saw Serenity trying to get through the doorway, but her walker was too wide.

Riley chuckled and went to her. She picked Serenity up and set her on the ground against the couch. Then she grabbed the walker and slid it sideways into the living room. She put it down and then lifted Serenity back into the seat.

Serenity giggled in response and took off practically running around the living room.

Maya laughed at watching her.

"That kid is so cute. See, Riles? I'm fine with babysitting."

Riley laughed. "I'm glad. It's going to be a lot more fun now. Hey, maybe we can plan some games for the party or something."

"Games?" Maya chuckled.

"What's wrong with games?"

"Riley, adults don't play games at parties."

"Then what fun is it?" Riley asked, immediately uninterested in the party.

"You make your own fun by catching up and eating snacks and having cake," Maya tried to explain.

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Cake?"

"Yeah, cake."

"I'll be there."

Maya rolled her eyes.

xxxXXXxxx

When Cory and Topanga got to the restaurant, it was about 6:00. They were seated at a table for two, and were having more fun than they've had in months.

"Oh, thank you for taking me out, Cory," Topanga was saying.

"Thank you for going out with me," Cory grinned.

Topanga smiled back. "This is so nice," she said, closing her eyes to enjoy the moment.

"Yeah, it is."

"We haven't been able to do anything like this since the baby was born. I've missed this," Topanga said.

"Me too. I just can't believe we waited so long."

"Me either. Let's never wait a year to go out again," Topanga said.

"That's an easy agreement," Cory said, smiling.

"So are you going to tell me exactly how this is allowed to happen right now?"

"I already told you. Riley and I talked and made up and now she's babysitting."

"Okay, but there had to be more than that. I mean, you can't just 'make up.' What did you talk about?"

"I told her I was sorry that I yelled at her and she told me she was sorry for inviting Lucas over."

"And?" Topanga questioned.

"And we kind of both admitted that we were test subjects."

"You what?" Topanga chuckled.

"Come on, Topanga. I know you were testing me while I was testing her. It's no secret. Come on. Admit it."

Topanga started laughing. "Okay, fine. I let you go along with it because I wanted to watch you freak out over Riley. And because you get really lovey when you freak out, which is cute. So I benefitted both ways," she said, grinning.

Cory rolled his eyes. "You know you could have just told me you wanted me to be 'lovey' as you put it," he said with air quotes.

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have gotten the freak out," Topanga said with a smirk. "That was part of it too."

"What, you like it when I freak out?"

"I think it's funny, yeah," Topanga said, amused.

Cory shook his head. "You have a twisted mind, Mrs. Matthews."

"I get it from you, Mr. Matthews."

"Touché," Cory said.

He leaned over and kissed her softly.

"I love you, Topanga," he said.

"I love you, Cory. Thank you for this. It's amazing."

"It'd be amazing no matter where we were, Topanga. As long as I'm with you."

Topanga smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him again.

"Permission to get all sappy?" he asked her.

"Eh, why not. We are on a date, after all."

"Well, I just wanted to tell you thank you."

"Why?" Topanga asked.

"Because you've made my life worth living. It just kind of hit me right now. If you did not exist, my life would be horrible. I wouldn't have love, I wouldn't have the kids, I probably wouldn't know Maya- heck, I might not even be a teacher. And worst of all, I wouldn't be happy because I wouldn't have you. I would be miserable without you, Topanga. And I am so glad that you're here right now. I'm so glad that you pushed me against that locker and kissed me all those years ago. And thank you for sticking with me through it all. I know I've done some crazy stuff, but you're the one that's always kept me grounded. I feel so lucky to know that you chose me. I just…I love you so much, Topi. You have changed me for the better. Thank you."

Topanga felt tears welling up in her eyes and she kissed him again, this time more serious.

"Cory, that was beautiful," she said, trying to swallow the tears that were attempting to rise. "I could never ever top that. But thank you, too. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today either. You're the one who taught me what love really means. You taught me what it is to love somebody so much that nothing could ever change it. And you always encouraged me to be the best I could be. You were willing to let me go to college across the country if it's what I wanted, because you thought it was the better choice. I don't know how I could have ever considered it," she said, shaking her head. "You are the best choice I've ever made, Cory. Then we moved to New York because you wanted me to have the best opportunity I could. You gave up your life in Philadelphia to be with me. And yeah, you've done some crazy stuff," she said, chuckling. "But you are the sweetest, most sensitive guy I've ever met. You've changed me, too. I love you so much, too, Cory. Thank you."

"I love you," Cory said again. He looked in his wife's eyes and saw that they were still filled with tears. He stood up and went to her. She stood up as well, and she pulled him into a tight hug.

He hugged her back and he felt her head rest on his shoulder. Then he listened and heard that the restaurant was playing a slow song. He looked around. Nobody else was dancing, but the music was loud enough and there was an empty space across the room. It was kind of dark, and it would be perfect for them.

"Do you want to go out there to dance?" he asked her quietly.

Topanga nodded.

He released the embrace and took her hand in his. When they got to the empty space, he put her hand on his shoulder and she wrapped her arms around him. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and they swayed back and forth to the music.

They continued dancing, and soon other couples began to follow suit. They went back to their seats after one or two songs, but Cory and Topanga continued to sway back and forth.

"I love you," Cory whispered in her ear.

"I love you," he heard her say softly back.

 **CORPANGA! Yay! I hope you enjoyed all the Corpanga in this chapter. I just love them so much!**

 **Please review and let me know what you think! :)**


	8. The Aftermath

**Okay, I wanted to start off this chapter with some thank yous. Some really nice people out there have left some really nice reviews for this story and I personally want to say thank you. You guys are the reason I keep writing.**

 **Also, there was a guest review left the other day, and it was like 2 paragraphs long. Since I can't reply to you, I wanted to leave a note in the chapter. First, thank you so much for the long review! You made me smile so much! I seriously appreciate that SO MUCH. Thank you!**

 **Second, to answer your question, I really do not like Lauren. Like really. I can't stand the girl. So to write about her…well I don't know how exactly that would work, but I don't think it would end well for her lol. I would really hate to put her in the story because I'd like to believe Cory and Topanga never have to deal with her again.**

 **Also, though, I don't think it's very believable that she held on to Cory for over 15 years. If a girl held on to a guy for that long, there'd be some things going on there in that head. I try to write as realistically as possible, and I just don't find it realistic for her to have a big part.**

 **So, to answer your question, no, I don't think I could write about her. I'm sorry! I feel bad because your review was so nice! But I can't! Thank you so much for the review!**

 **Sorry for the long note. On with the story now!**

When Cory and Topanga got home that night, Riley was nearly asleep on the couch.

"Hey, sweetie," Topanga greeted her.

"Hey, guys. How was your date?" Riley asked.

Topanga looked up at Cory and smiled. "It was perfect," she said.

Cory smiled back.

"That's good," Riley said.

"How did it go here?" Cory asked, taking his shoes off.

"It was good," Riley said.

"Where's Maya?" Topanga asked.

"Oh, she went home after Auggie went to bed," Riley said.

"How come?" Topanga asked.

"Well, she was tired and she wanted to be able to get her mom's opinion on party stuff before she leaves for work. She works until right before the party and Maya wants to have everything set up by then," Riley said.

"Ahh," Topanga said, walking to the couch. She sat down next to Riley.

Riley looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say why she was looking at her.

"Riley, I want to apologize, too. I know your father kind of went over this already, but I want to have my part. I shouldn't have used you as a test. The only reason I did it was because your dad was freaking out over stuff, and I wanted to prove to him that you're responsible. I shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry."

Riley smiled. "Don't worry about it, Mom. It's okay. But Dad and I agreed that we shouldn't have any more tests."

"That's probably best," Topanga said.

"And now I'm free, right?" Riley asked, hoping.

"Now you're free," Topanga said.

"Good," Riley replied, sighing with relief.

"So the babysitting went well tonight, huh?" Cory asked.

"Yeah, it was great," Riley replied.

"That's good," he began. He walked over to the couch and Topanga looked up at him and smiled.

"Because we were thinking you could babysit more often," Cory said.

"What?" Riley asked, disappointed.

"Yeah, I mean, we loved going out tonight. It was just what we needed. And we can't wait another year before we go out again. So we were thinking maybe once a month we could go out," Cory said.

"Once a month?" Riley asked, horrified.

"It's not too much, right? It still gives you and Maya plenty of time to hang out. It's not that big of a deal. Plus then you'd have a small income every month," Topanga added.

"Mom, I get that you guys want to go out, but how is it my job to watch them?" Riley asked.

"Well, you're the oldest and it can prove to us that you're responsible," Cory said.

Riley shook her head.

"Maya was right," Riley said.

"What are you talking about?" Cory asked.

"She told me this would happen if I gave in. I thought you guys respected me more than that, but I guess I was wrong," Riley said. She stood up and angrily stomped to her room.

Cory looked at Topanga, scared, but Topanga just shook her head and waved it away.

"Give her a little bit to cool down," Topanga said, walking to him. "She'll realize that it's not that much to ask. Don't worry about it, honey. We shouldn't spoil a perfect night."

Cory smiled at her. "You're right, Topanga. Let's not spoil it. This night was amazing and we don't need to ruin that."

"Thank you," she said. She leaned forward and kissed him.

"You know," Cory said. "I'm feeling a little tired."

Topanga put her finger on her chin. "Me too."

"Well then, off we go, m'lady," he said, offering his arm.

Topanga grinned and took his arm. He walked her into the hallway and into their room.

They shut the door and Topanga's giggling was heard from behind the door.

Riley, who was watching from her barely-open bedroom door, rolled her eyes and shut the door, irritated with her parents.

 _Why do they have to trap me like this?_ she thought. _All they ever do is be with each other, so why do they need these stupid dates all the time now? Well, I don't want to do it. I'm going to talk to Maya tomorrow. She'll know what to do._

Angrily, Riley put her pajamas on and shut off her light. As she lay in bed, she continued to stew over the events that just took place. Then she tried to think about the party tomorrow, about what fun it would be. But that didn't help, because she just kept thinking about how selfish her parents were.

Finally, after a while of this, she finally fell asleep.


	9. At Maya's

**Alright, sorry I'm starting with another note, but I seriously had to say this. I got a review the other day from a guest and they said that there's no romance between Cory and Topanga and that I should put more of that in.**

 **At least to me, I feel like there's a lot of Corpanga. In fact, in my last story, I had someone say they wanted** _ **less**_ **Corpanga because it was mostly about them lol. So I don't know if you're reading the same story, but I feel like there's a lot of Corpanga in here. Especially after their date lol.**

 **Not trying in any way to demean the person that left the review, but I couldn't reply because you don't have an account, and I really wanted to tell you my thoughts on that.**

 **Sorry for the long note (again).**

The next morning, Riley got up early to head over to Maya's house. It was finally Saturday- the day of the big party for Shawn. The guests were invited, the food was bought, and the decorating was almost complete.

Riley was up and ready to leave around 7am, and she walked quietly out into the living room. Nobody was up yet, and she was especially hoping she wouldn't wake up Serenity. That would mean crying, which would wake the rest of the family up, and Riley's plan of sneaking out without having to talk to her parents would be ruined.

Luckily, she was able to get to the front door without waking her up. She walked out the door and carefully shut it behind her.

She rode the subway to Maya's house and then knocked on Maya's bedroom window. Maya was already going through the final decorating plans, and she walked over to open the window for Riley.

"Hey, Riles," Maya said. "I didn't expect to see you so early."

"Yeah, well, things didn't go too well last night," Riley said, climbing into the room.

"Why, what happened?"

"Everything was fine until my parents got home. They were acting all happy and carefree, and they asked how everything went, and I said it was good."

"It doesn't exactly sound bad," Maya said, confused.

"That's not where it ends," Riley said. "Then they told me that since it went well and since they didn't want to wait so long to go out, they'd be going out _once a month_ ," Riley said dramatically.

Maya crinkled her eyebrows. "So what exactly is the problem here?"

"Once a month, Maya. That means I'll have to babysit them once a month."

"Oh my gosh," Maya said, acting hurt. "How dare they. Once a month. Why that's on the verge of slavery!" she mocked.

"Maya!" Riley complained.

Maya started laughing. "Riley, it's not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is! What's next? Cooking dinner every night? Driving the kids around to their basketball games? Volunteering at the PTA meetings?"

Maya rolled her eyes. "Riley, that's completely exaggerated and you know it."

"Maya, my freedom is gone, just like you said."

"Okay, I can see how you'd be a little bit upset. But it's not that big of an inconvenience. I mean, it's only once a month. That means you get the other three weekends completely to yourself. Imagine if you had a job- they tell you your schedule too. And it's a lot more often than once a month! At least they pay money, though."

"Well, I'll get paid for babysitting," Riley mumbled.

Maya gave Riley a look. "Then what is the problem? This does not sound like it's that bad."

"It's not the fact that I have to babysit, Maya, it's a matter of principle!"

"What principle?"

"The principle that I should be able to run my life the way I want it!" Riley said, putting her fist in the air.

"Alright, pipe down," Maya said, pulling Riley's arm down. "First, you're 13. Your parents tell you what to do. Second, you're in 8th grade- you still have a good four more years until it's over, so get used to it."

"Why are you taking their side?" Riley accused.

"I'm not taking their side. I think they should have asked you first. You all should've come up with a compromise. But that's not always the way things work out."

"But…I don't want to do it. Why do they have to go out all the time?" Riley complained.

"Because they're in love. Riley, you should be happy that they go out all the time, and that they want to spend time with each other."

"Why would that make me happy? One weekend a month is being taken from me for it!"

"Riley, do you know what I would give for that to be my parents?" Maya asked.

Riley was quiet then. She looked down at her lap.

"I'm sorry, Maya," Riley said quietly.

"Don't worry about it," Maya said. "I know you weren't thinking about it like that, but I just want you to realize how lucky you are. Your parents love each other. In fact, usually it's sickening," Maya said, making a face.

Riley chuckled.

"So don't be too hard on them. Let them enjoy time together. They're lucky to be so in love, and you're lucky that they are. And who knows. Maybe when Shawn and my mom get married they'll go on double dates and we can have sleepovers," Maya grinned.

"That wouldn't be so bad," Riley admitted.

"Yeah, see?" Maya said. She pulled Riley in for a side hug. "So do you still want to help me set up for this party now that I fixed ya?"

Riley grinned at Maya. "Sure. Let's get started. When does your mom leave for work?"

"Oh, she already left. But I got her approval on some stuff. So all we have left to do is hang some signs up and blow up some balloons. And we'll also need your parents to bring the cake. Do you think you can call them?" Maya asked.

"Yeah," Riley said. "I need to apologize to them too."

"Alright," Maya said, taking the hint. She walked out of her room and shut the door to give Riley some privacy.

Riley took out her phone and dialed her mom's number.

It rang many times, and then finally it was answered.

"Hello?" Topanga said, sounding rushed.

"Hey, Mom," Riley said.

"Honey, why don't you just come into the kitchen because I've got Serenity throwing food and-"

"Mom, I'm at Maya's."

"Oh. Okay." There was a pause. "Cory!" Riley heard her mom yelling. "Can you come take care of Serenity really quick? Riley's on the phone." Another pause. "No, she's at Maya's. Thank you!"

Then there were a few stomps in the background and Topanga said, "Okay, honey. What's up? Why are you already at Maya's?"

"I…I left because I didn't want to talk about last night," Riley said.

"Oh," Topanga said.

"But I'm calling now because I wanted to say sorry. I…didn't mean to blow up over the babysitting thing. I should be more respectful of the fact that you and Dad like to go out. Once a month isn't really that much."

"Thank you, sweetie. I really appreciate that. You know we don't go out just to force you to babysit. Married couples actually really need that alone time. It's good to be able to reconnect and just talk without having to worry about anything going on. We've gotta keep the heat," she chuckled.

"Yeah, okay," Riley said, trying to push the picture out of her mind.

"I really appreciate that you called to say that, Riley. Thank you."

"Yeah, well, I felt really bad. I had to. I should've waited for you to wake up and then apologized."

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm glad you called. So we'll see you at the party then?"

"Yeah," Riley said. "But I have a favor to ask."

"Okay?"

"Can you guys pick up the cake on your way?"

"Yeah, sure. At our bakery?"

"No, it's at the other one. Maya didn't want to make her mom make it. She didn't want her mom to worry over it."

"Ah," Topanga said. "Yeah, we can get that. What time should we be there, then?"

"Probably a half hour early."

"Okay. We'll be there then. Love you, sweetie."

"Love you too, Mom."

"Bye," Topanga said.

"Bye."

Riley put her phone in her pocket and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she walked out her bedroom door and went to Maya's living room. She was blowing up balloons.

"Riles, you gotta help me," she said, collapsing onto the couch.

"You're out of air?"

Maya nodded, looking exhausted.

Riley chuckled. She went to the balloon bag and grabbed some balloons to help. They blew up the package of balloons and then stood up to survey the balloon mess they'd made.

Maya looked around at the living room.

"Well," Maya said. "We have to scatter them."

"Okay. I'll put some in the kitchen and-"

"No, silly. This is how you do it," she said. She ran into the balloons and started kicking them and twirling around to make them fly across the room.

Riley laughed and followed Maya's example. Soon the balloons were scattered around the house.

"Well, that was fun," Riley said, looking around at the colorful house.

"Yeah, it was," Maya added. "Now what?"

"Do we have to make any food?"

Maya walked into the kitchen and turned the oven light on.

"My mom already put the ham in the oven. Your parents are bringing the mashed potatoes. Green beans just have to be warmed up. Rolls are in the pantry. And Shawn basically only cares about the cake, so we're good."

"Alright," Riley said. "So what do we do?"

Maya shrugged.

"We could rip of pieces of paper for confetti when Shawn walks in the door!" Riley offered excitedly.

"Yeah, you gonna pick that all up afterward?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Riley said, defeated. "What about the guest list?"

"What about it?"

"Did everyone say they were coming?" Riley asked.

"Your parents, obviously, your grandparents, Feeny, and of course we can't forget Josh," Maya said, grinning dreamily.

"No Angela?"

"No, she couldn't make it," Maya said.

"Oh," Riley said. "Try not to hit on my uncle this time."

"No promises," Maya said with a grin.

 **Hey guys! Hoped you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **I just wanted to add, again, that it is infinitely better if you have an account when you leave a review on here! So many of you review as guests and (though I love your reviews as much as any other!) I would love to reply! PLEASE consider getting an account, even if you don't write fanfics. It's nice to be able to chat back and forth.**

 **Thank you very much for reading! :)**


	10. The First Arrivals

Cory came into his bedroom and saw Topanga on the phone. She ended the call and then turned around to see Cory.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"Riley just called. She apologized," Topanga said, walking toward her husband.

"She apologized?" Cory asked, impressed.

Topanga reached him and put her arm around his waist. "Yeah. So who was right?" she grinned.

Cory rolled his eyes. "You are, darling."

"Thank you," Topanga grinned. She leaned up and kissed him.

"So what else did she say?" he asked.

"She wants us to pick up the cake on the way to the party. She said we should get there a half hour early."

"Okay. Did my parents call yet?" he asked.

"Nope. Did Shawn?"

"Nope."

"His plane will land in about an hour, so he'll probably call then," Topanga said.

"Yeah, I'm sure he will. He might call Katy first, though."

"Really?" Topanga asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Cory said with a grin.

"That's pretty good," she said. "His priorities are rearranging."

"Every married man has to rearrange his priorities," Cory said. "Remember when he called me whipped because I did that? And now look at him," he said with a smirk.

Topanga smiled up at him, adoringly. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head.

"And look at me," Cory continued. "Now I'm married to the most wonderful, beautiful woman on the planet and I've got three wonderful children," he said, looking around at the pictures decorating their room.

Then he looked down at Topanga. She looked up at him.

"Thanks for changing my priorities, Topanga," he said, smiling his crooked smile.

She didn't say anything, but she smiled and pulled his chin down for a long and meaningful kiss.

xxxXXXxxx

At Maya's house, the girls were sitting on the ground with a deck of cards, waiting for people to arrive at the party.

"Your turn, Maya."

Maya picked a card up and looked at her hand for a second, concentrating on her cards. Then she pulled a card out of her hand and placed it in the discard pile.

"Well," Maya said, standing up. "I gotta pee."

Riley gave her a look. "You know you don't have to say that every time. You can just say 'I have to go to the bathroom.'"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't get a reaction out of you. What fun is that?" Maya smirked, putting her cards on the counter.

Riley rolled her eyes and Maya walked into the hallway and shut the door of the bathroom.

Riley looked down at her hand and tried to think of how she was going to win the round. Then there was a knock on the door.

She stood up and placed her cards on the coffee table. She walked to the door and looked through the peep hole. It was Lucas.

She opened the door.

"Hey, Lucas," she greeted him.

"Hey, Riley," he said, kissing her cheek.

Riley nearly blushed, but was able to contain her giggles.

Lucas grabbed her hand. "So can I come in?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," Riley said, gesturing inside.

Lucas walked in and saw the cards on the ground. "You guys are playing something?"

"Yeah, rummy," Riley said. "We can deal you in if you want."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Lucas answered. "Where's Maya?"

"She's in the bathroom. She'll be out in a few minutes."

"Oh. So until then, we have the apartment to ourselves?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow playfully.

"Technically," Riley said, smirking.

"Mm," Lucas answered. He looked at the kitchen, pretending to think, and then dashed forward.

Riley screamed playfully and started running around the living room, grinning and laughing. Lucas laughed and chased after her, holding his arms out.

Finally Lucas caught her and he grabbed around her waist and lifted her sideways into the air. He gently tossed her onto the couch and she giggled. He jumped onto the couch to sit next to her and she looked up at him, still grinning.

He sat her up and kissed her forehead, and she smiled up at him.

Then the door opened and Maya walked out. She crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows, and stood in front of Riley and Lucas. They looked up at her.

Then they realized how they were sitting. Lucas was sitting on his knees, leaning toward Riley, and his hand held Riley's small face. She had her hand on his thigh and was leaning toward him.

They quickly released their semi-compromising position and sat back against the couch.

"I see I missed quite a lot when I went to the bathroom. Riley, you've got to learn to be away from him for a few hours. You just gotta," Maya smirked.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Riley said, looking at Lucas. She couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her face and he felt that her smile was contagious, so he smiled back.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said jokingly. "You wanna play, Sundance?" Maya asked, gesturing toward the cards.

Lucas looked at her for a second, debating in his mind whether to say anything about the name. "Sure," he said, deciding not to address it.

Maya sat down in her spot and pulled her cards off the counter. Riley moved over to Maya and took hers off the coffee table.

"Lucky for you we just started this hand," Maya said. She took seven cards from the deck and handed them to Lucas.

"Thanks," Lucas said.

"Whatever, Ranger Rick."

The kids continued playing their card game until there was another knock on the door.

Maya got up and opened the door to find Cory, Topanga, Auggie, and Serenity. Topanga was holding the cake and Cory was holding the baby. Auggie held the mashed potatoes in a blue bowl.

"Hey, guys," Maya said.

"Hey, Maya," Topanga greeted her.

"Hi, Maya," Cory said.

Auggie grinned up at Maya.

"Come in," Maya said.

The Matthews walked in and Topanga set the cake on the counter. She took the potatoes from Auggie and set them on the counter as well.

"Hey, honey," Topanga said to Riley.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," Riley replied.

"Hello, Riley," Cory said pleasantly. "Hi, Lucas," Cory said, his voice sounding somewhat pleasant but somewhat strained as well.

"Hello, Mr. Matthews," he said, standing. "Mrs. Matthews," he nodded to Topanga.

"What about the brother?" Auggie asked.

"Hi, Auggie," Lucas said.

"What about the sister?" Auggie asked, sounding impatient.

Lucas walked over to Serenity, who was still in Cory's arms.

Cory wanted to pull his baby daughter away and run to the other room, but he took one look at Topanga's face and knew he had to stay there.

Lucas smiled at Serenity and took her hand.

"Hello, little Serenity," he said.

Riley smiled at the exchange.

"Ooh, the cake looks awesome!" Maya said, leaning over the counter to look at it.

"I know!" Topanga said. "I was pretty impressed."

The door opened and Katy walked in, surprised to see the group already there.

"Well, hi, everybody," Katy said cheerily.

"Hey, Mom," Maya said. She walked over to her and hugged her.

"Are ya'll ready to party?" Katy asked, smiling excitedly. She put her purse on the hook and put her keys on a hook next to it.

"Ready if you are," Cory said. "Have you heard from Shawn?"

"Yeah, he said his plane landed about fifteen minutes ago. So he should be here in about an hour," Katy said.

Cory and Topanga looked at each other and smiled, realizing that he'd called Katy and hadn't even called Cory yet.

"Is there anything we can help with?" Topanga asked.

"Um," Katy said, looking around. "Why don't you ask Maya. I've got to go get changed. I'll be right back," she said, hurrying into the hallway and into her bedroom.

Cory put Serenity down next to the couch so she could experiment with walking a little. Then he went to his wife and put his arm around her.

"So what can we do?" Cory asked Maya.

"Well, there's not much left to do," she replied. "Although I don't know how to do any food. Except the green beans. Could you get them out of the fridge for me, Mrs. Matthews?" she asked, since she was next to it.

Topanga nodded and reached to open the refrigerator door. She looked around and then noticed a six-pack of beer. She looked up at Cory and he looked back at her, having noticed it at the same time she did.

"Is something wrong?" Maya asked.

Topanga looked at Maya and then back up at Cory.

"Is that for the party?" Topanga asked, pointing to the beer.

"Yeah," Maya admitted. "My mom thought all the adults could have it."

"Oh, honey," Topanga said, concern filling her face. "None of us drink."

"Well I'm sure you could forget about that for Shawn's sake," Maya said, trying to brush it off.

"No, he doesn't drink either," Cory said.

"Why not?" Maya asked, confused.

Cory and Topanga looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed.

"He's had bad experience with alcohol and he makes it a point to not drink," Topanga said.

"Oh," Maya said, her eyes growing wide. "Well we'll have to get rid of it."

"No," Topanga said, shaking her head. "We'll just tell your mom so she doesn't put it out for the party."

"Okay," Maya said. "I still need the green beans though."

"Right," Topanga said. She reached into the fridge and pulled the bowl out. She handed them to Maya and closed the door. Maya went on with the green beans and Topanga looked up at Cory. He smiled at her as if to say it'd be alright. Then he kissed her forehead and she leaned on his shoulder.

Riley, having watched the conversation, was very curious.

 _I wonder what happened,_ she thought. _Maybe they'll tell me later._

 **Alright, chapter 10! What'd you guys think? I liked writing this chapter because of all the Corpanga! We can never get enough of them…**

 **Do you all remember Shawn's bad experiences with alcohol? Why do you think Cory and Topanga are so concerned?**

 **Also, I think everyone should be arriving at the party in the next chapter! At least, as far as I think right now.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review! :)**


	11. The Party Begins

**Hey, guys. Oh, my goodness. I am SO SORRY it's been so long. I have been wanting to write this for a really long time. I really should have had it in earlier, but these last few weeks have been so incredibly crazy. This was literally my first day I had time to do this.**

 **Thank you to those who are sticking with me.**

 **Again, I am SO SORRY. Here's the next chapter to the story.**

Over the next half hour or so, the remaining guests arrived. Amy, Alan and Mr. Feeny arrived from Philadelphia together. Then Morgan arrived from her home in Pittsburgh. Finally, Josh drove over from NYU.

When Josh arrived, Riley gave Maya a warning look as to say, "Don't be weird."

Maya only rolled her eyes at Riley, convinced that she had matured since their last meeting.

Maya walked over to Josh and calmly said, "Hey."

"Hey, Maya," Josh replied with a smile.

Maya's heart skipped a beat, but she tried to remain cool.

"How was the drive over?" Maya asked.

"It was good," Josh said.

"That's good," Maya said. There was an awkward pause in conversation.

Then, Cory, sensing the awkwardness, went over to Josh and gave him a hug.

"Hey, bro," Josh greeted Cory.

"Hey," Cory said. "How's college been going?"

"It's been going good," Josh replied. "My classes are a lot of fun, so hopefully that's a good sign for the rest of my time I spend there."

"I'm sure it'll be great, Josh," Cory said with a smile.

One by one, the rest of the family had greeted each other. When Katy walked over to Josh to greet him, she grinned at Maya and mouthed, "He's cute!"

Maya rolled her eyes and tried to stop a blush from reddening her cheeks.

After a few minutes of catching up, Topanga walked over to Katy.

"Katy, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked seriously.

"Yeah, sure," Katy said. "What's up?"

Just then Katy's phone began ringing. She walked over to the counter to pick it up. Then she looked up, her face lit up, and said, "It's Shawn! Topanga, can it wait?" Katy asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Topanga answered.

"Okay, everybody quiet!" Cory hushed everyone.

Once everyone was sufficiently quiet, Katy answered the phone.

"Hey," she said, still grinning.

She listened to what he was saying.

"Okay, yeah. Do you want me to come get you then?"

There was another pause.

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes. See you then, sweetie."

She hung up the phone and turned to look at everyone.

"Well, his plane landed and he just has to go through security and get his baggage. So I'm going to drive over there and get him. I'll send a text when I'm on my way back. In the meantime, just try to find hiding spots and gather all the balloons up. I'm going to walk in first with some of his luggage. Then when he comes in, throw the balloons up and I'll get the lights."

"Sounds good, Katy," Topanga said with a smile. "Don't worry about things here. We'll get it all ready for him. You just go and pick up your fiancé!"

"Okay," Katy said, grinning. She grabbed her purse and walked out the door.

After she left, everyone looked around, unsure of where to start.

Topanga pulled her arm back from around Cory's waist and he took his arm from around her shoulders. She walked to get Serenity and picked her up. Serenity looked at her mother's smiling face and then smiled a wide smile back.

"Mama," Serenity said with a bright smile.

"Yes, Mama, that's right," Topanga cooed back.

Topanga turned to the party and said, "Alright, everyone. You heard Katy. Let's all grab some balloons and find a hiding spot for when she gets back."

At that, the party guests began collecting balloons and talking about where they were going to hide.

"I really hope Serenity stays quiet," Topanga said to Cory.

Cory waved it away and said, "She'll be fine. I found a perfect hiding spot for us," he said with a grin. He grabbed Topanga's hand and pulled her past everyone else and toward the couch. Lucas and Riley were looking toward the small corner between the couch and the wall. Cory's face distorted and he grabbed Riley's hand back.

"Um, no," he said, disgusted.

"What?" Riley asked.

"You two can _not_ hide together in a corner. And also, I claimed it already."

"I didn't hear you claim it," Riley countered.

"I claimed it mentally."

Riley gave her dad a look.

"Hey, I'm the dad. You have to listen to me. Now you to have to have separate hiding spot. Go now," he said, shooing them away.

Riley rolled her eyes and pulled Lucas's hand away from the couch.

Cory then grabbed the baby from his wife and she sat down against the wall. He handed the baby back to her and said, "I'll go get the balloons."  
Topanga nodded and turned her attention to Serenity.

"Do you want to surprise Uncle Shawn?" she asked her daughter.

Serenity only kept a smile on her face.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes," Topanga said.

Cory returned with a handful of balloons and put them around Topanga before sitting right next to her, against the wall.

Topanga looked at him and smiled, loving how into the surprise he was. He was eager for Shawn to return, but he also wanted to make this the best surprise it could be.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," Topanga said. "I was just thinking how cute you are right now."

Cory grinned and sat up a little straighter, his ego built up in that moment.

Topanga chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Cory smiled at her touch and took her hand in his. She looked up and they smiled at each other. Then Cory put his hand under Topanga's chin and leaned down for a kiss. Topanga smiled as he kissed her, and Cory smiled back. Soon they both forgot where they were as their worlds began to revolve around each other. They continued with careful kisses, occasionally hearing the gurgle of Serenity's laughter, but not completely comprehending where they were. They were lost in time, lost in each other.

Then they heard, "Hey, everyone!" They broke their kiss carefully and Cory looked up.

The party all craned their necks to look at Maya, who was standing in the middle of the room. Topanga looked down at her daughter, who was playing with the sequins on her clothes. When the baby noticed her mother's attention, she turned toward Topanga and smiled excitedly. Topanga smiled back and pulled her into her lap. Then she looked up at Maya.

"My mom and Shawn are on their way back!"

"What?" Topanga asked, confused. "It's only been a few minutes."

"Um, actually it's been about fifteen minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Make Out in the Corner," Maya smirked.

Topanga's face turned red and Riley's disgusted, "Ugh," was heard from across the room.

"Hey, we were _not_ making out," Cory said. "We're adults," he scoffed.

"Okay," Maya said, still smirking. Then she purred.

Topanga's eyes grew wide and she whipped her head around to look at Cory.

Cory's eyes were equally wide and he shook his head in confusion.

"How'd you know she does that?" Cory demanded.

"We all heard," Maya said. "I was trying to bet with Josh how long it would go on."

Then she turned toward Josh. "By the way, I won. You owe me ten bucks."

Josh rolled his eyes and pulled a bill out of his pocket to give to Maya.

"Thank you very much," Maya grinned, taking the money.

Topanga said, "Okay, well now that that's over, let's move on. Is everybody ready to surprise Shawn? Everyone in their hiding spots?"

"Yep," Maya said. "We all have been for a while. But you wouldn't know because…" Maya said, grinning.

"Maya, where are you supposed to be?" Topanga asked, her patience running thin.

Maya put her hands up in surrender and walked over to her hiding place behind the counter.

"Thank you," Topanga said.

The party all sat for a few minutes and then suddenly there were footsteps outside the door.

Topanga heard a gasp and turned to see Cory grinning. She rolled her eyes and looked at Serenity. She was only sitting still, looking at her clothes again. Topanga smiled, proud of her baby for behaving so well.

Then they heard Katy saying, "Okay, you can go first."

The door opened and everyone jumped out of their hiding spots and threw their balloons at Shawn, grinning and calling out their greetings. Cory ran over to Shawn, pulling him into a big hug.

At first, Shawn was quite taken aback, unsure of what was happening. Soon, however, he figured out what was going on and he grinned and hugged Cory back.

"Welcome home, Shawnie," Cory said excitedly.

"Thanks, buddy," Shawn said.

Everyone hugged Shawn and said their own hellos, and Maya waited until last.

"Hey, Hunter," she grinned.

"Hey, kiddo!" he said, excited. He pulled Maya in for a hug, and she hugged him tightly.

"I missed you, Shawn," Maya said, still grinning.

"I missed you, too." Then he turned to Katy. "Did you do this for me?" he asked.

"Maya and I did," Katy answered, smiling shyly.

"Thank you," Shawn said meaningfully. Then he pulled Katy in for a soft, gentle kiss.

Cory grinned and looked at Topanga, who smiled back at him.

Riley looked at Maya and saw that she was watching her mom and Shawn, almost in awe. Riley smiled to herself. _Maybe it's not so bad to have parents who do that,_ she thought.


	12. The Past

"You guys, you didn't have to do this," Shawn said.

"Oh, of course we did," Katy replied. "We haven't seen you in a while, and now you're back for good. I think that's a reason to celebrate."

Shawn smiled at her and went over to the couch to sit by Cory and Topanga.

"So how have the crazies been?" he greeted them.

"Glad you're back, buddy," Cory said with a smile.

"It's good to have you back, Shawn," Topanga added.

"Thanks guys," Shawn said. He looked down at Serenity.

"She's getting big," Shawn said.

"Yeah, she is," Topanga said. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Sure."

Topanga handed her baby to Shawn and watched him interact with her. He was a little awkward, but Serenity was okay and accepted him.

"I think she still remembers you," Cory said.

"Maybe," Shawn replied.

"Do you and Katy ever want to have kids?" Topanga asked.

"We haven't really talked about it," Shawn said, shaking the idea away. He handed Serenity back to Topanga and stood up to walk over to Alan.

Topanga turned to Cory.

"Well, that was weird," she said.

"Yeah," Cory agreed. "I wonder what's going on with that."

"I don't know," Topanga said, deep in thought.

xxxXXXxxx

Soon it was time to eat dinner. The food was done cooking and was sitting on the counter, and Katy announced, "Come and get some food!"

"Ooh, what are we having?" Shawn asked.

"We're having cake after the meal," Katy said with a small smile.

"You know me too well," Shawn said, grinning.

Everyone went to the kitchen and formed a line for their dinner. Shawn was first, then Morgan, Alan, Amy, Cory, who was getting Topanga's plate as well, Auggie, Riley, Maya, Lucas, Mr. Feeny, and Josh.

"Ooh, I almost forgot!" Katy exclaimed. She ran over to the refrigerator and began looking around in it. She pulled out a pitcher of Kool-Aid, a liter of Pepsi, a liter of Sprite, and a 12-pack of beer.

Topanga quickly looked across the room at Cory, with wide eyes, realizing she forgot to tell Katy about the beer.

Cory looked at Topanga, unsure of what to do.

Topanga set Serenity down on the carpet and then walked quickly over to Katy. She said quietly, "Katy, remember how I was going to talk to you and then Shawn called?"

"Yeah?" Katy asked, confused.

"I need to talk to you now if that's alright."

"Okay. What's up?"

Topanga looked at the beer on the table and then back up at Katy, unsure of how to say it. Katy followed her gaze, and then looked back at Topanga, her eyebrows crinkled with confusion.

"Is there something wrong?" Katy asked.

"Well, yes and no," Topanga said. "It's just that Shawn doesn't drink."

"Oh," Katy said. "That's okay. It's not a big deal. I just-"

"No, like he really doesn't. He refuses to even be around people drinking. Can we put it back in the refrigerator?"

Katy's eyes grew wide and she quickly grabbed the beer off the counter and put it in the fridge.

Topanga sighed with relief. "Thank you, Katy."

"Of course," Katy said. "Do you mind telling me exactly why he won't drink?"

Topanga looked over at Shawn, who was talking with Josh.

"No, I think it'd be better if he told you," Topanga said.

"Okay," Katy said. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's totally fine. It's just something from his past that he doesn't like to have everyone know."

Katy nodded her head in understanding and said, "Thank you for letting me know, Topanga."

"Any time," Topanga said with a smile. She walked back over to the couch and sat next to Cory, who had finished getting her plate.

"Thank you, honey," she said sweetly. She took the plate, smiled, and pecked his lips.

Cory smiled and nodded. "Is everything…taken care of?"

"Yeah, everything's okay."

"Good," Cory said. "We seem to have avoided a catastrophe," he said, shaking his head with relief.

"Yeah. I can't believe he never told her about that though," Topanga said.

"Well they haven't exactly been together that long," Cory said.

"It's been over a year."

"Yeah, but you can't really say that to someone over a phone call or a text."

Topanga nodded. She put her plate on the table next to her and pulled Serenity onto her lap. She gave her a few bites of potatoes and watched her daughter gulp it down.

Topanga giggled.

"What?" Cory asked.

"She's her father's daughter. She loves potatoes."

Cory grinned and began eating from his plate of potatoes.

Riley, who had been watching her parents, was deep in thought, wondering what was going on. She pulled Lucas to the table with her and Maya followed. They sat down and began eating.

"So what do you guys want to do?" Maya asked.

"After we're done eating?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah," Maya replied.

"I don't know," Lucas replied, shaking his head. "Riley?"

They both looked over at her, and she was staring past them at the wall.

Maya turned to see what she was looking at, but saw nothing.

"Riley?" Lucas asked again.

Riley then looked at Lucas. "What?"

"Is something wrong?" Lucas asked her.

"No. I was just thinking."

"About what?" Maya asked.

"The past."


	13. The Past- Part 2

In a few hours, the party was over. Everyone from Philadelphia was leaving and mentally preparing for the long drive back. Maya walked over to Josh and stood a safe distance away.

"Bye, Josh," she said with a small smile, her heart jumping.

Josh gave her a small smile and said, "Bye, Maya," as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Maya quickly turned to Riley and gave her a look, implying that she had done better than expected.

Riley rolled her eyes in response and Maya grinned and walked over to her.

"I'm making definite progress," Maya said.

"Whatever you say," Riley consented.

"Thank you for having us over at this wonderful party," Topanga said to Katy with a smile.

"Oh, thank you all for coming," Katy said.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Cory added, smiling at everyone.

Topanga put her arm around Cory's waist and smiled along with her husband.

"We'd better be going," Topanga said. She looked over at her baby, sleeping peacefully on her blanket.

Auggie was on the couch, almost asleep as well.

"Do we have to?" Riley complained.

"Yeah, I think your siblings have confirmed that," Topanga said, walking over to Serenity. She carefully pulled the baby into her arms, so as not to wake her. Serenity stirred, but did not wake up. She wrapped her arm around her mother's shoulder and fell into a deep slumber.

Cory then walked over to Auggie and picked him up. He gave Topanga a look as he strained to pick the child up. Auggie was getting way too old to be carried anymore.

Topanga tried not to laugh for fear of waking Serenity, but she grinned at Cory in response.

"Bye everyone," Topanga said quietly as she waved with her free hand.

"Bye," Katy said.

"See you later," Maya added.

"Bye guys," Shawn said.

With that, the Matthews walked out the door.

Maya turned around to face her mother and Shawn.

"Well, I think that was a successful party. What do you think, Mom?" Maya asked.

"I think so," Katy confirmed. She looked up at Shawn.

He just smiled and nodded.

"Thank you guys," he said.

"You're welcome," Maya said, grinning. "We're just glad you're back."

"Yes, we are," Katy added.

"I'm glad to be back," Shawn said. He turned to look at the clock. 12:03 it read.

"Wow, it's late," Maya said after following his gaze.

"Yeah, it is," Shawn said.

"Maya, I think it's time for you to go to bed," Katy said with a motherly tone in her voice.

"Aw, Mom, come on. I mean, Shawn just got back and it's a Saturday night."

Katy shook her head.

Maya's face reflected one of irritation, but she reluctantly obeyed her mom and walked into the hallway to her room.

"Night, Mom. Night, Shawn," Maya said before closing her door.

"Good night, sweetheart," Katy said.

"Night, Maya," Shawn said.

Katy and Shawn turned to look at each other.

The awkwardness once again set in.

They both chuckled nervously before Katy remembered what she'd wanted to talk to Shawn about.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Katy asked.

"Sure," Shawn said. He walked over to the couch and sat down.

She followed him and sat next to him.

"At the party today, Topanga told me something, and I wanted to get your take on it," Katy said.

"Okay, go," Shawn said.

"Well, I was getting all the drinks out for dinner. I was taking the Kool-Aid out of the fridge, and the soda, and everything, and I also happened to have beer in the fridge."

Shawn's face instantly changed from a look of pleasantness to a mixture of embarrassment, fear, nervousness, and hurt.

"Yeah, that," Katy said, gesturing to his face.

"What?" he asked.

"Why that?"

"Why what?" he asked, trying to act like nothing was up.  
Katy gave him a look. "You can tell me, you know."

Shawn sighed and leaned his head back on the couch in stress. He closed his eyes tightly and then opened them and saw Katy, patiently waiting.

A small smile came across his face.

"What?" Katy asked.

"You're just waiting for me to tell you," Shawn replied.

"Yeah?"

"Is that what you looked like when you were waiting for me to text you back?"

"I don't know, Shawn, but that's a conversation for later."

"I know, I know," he said reluctantly.

"So what's up with that face? What happened?"

"It's just that when I was younger, I didn't exactly have the best experiences with alcohol," Shawn said carefully.

"Okay," Katy said, nudging him to go on.

"See, there was this one time where Cory and I decided to drink. It was just a few drinks to take some stress away. And it just got…completely out of hand. The police picked us up. And then Cory never drank again, with the exception of his wedding day."

"But you did," Katy said, figuring where the story was going.

"Yeah," Shawn said quietly. "It got to the point where I was blowing people off and treating people like dirt. Then I…I hit Angela. And everything came flooding back to me, and I couldn't deal with it. Alcohol, memories, anything. And I just…I can't drink now. Alcohol makes me sick to my stomach. If I drink it or see people drinking, it makes me sick."

"What memories, Shawn?" Katy asked quietly.

"Memories. From my childhood, from my dad. See, a long time ago, when I was really little, my dad was an alcoholic. I was really small. I barely have any memories from when I was that little. But the ones that I do have aren't very good ones. They're from when my dad lost his job because he showed up drunk. Or when he stormed out on everyone because he got mad. Or when he threw something across the trailer and my mom took us into my room so we didn't step on the broken glass. It's just that I have never had any positive memories involving alcohol. And once I realized that I was turning into my dad when he drank, I couldn't stand myself. I felt so scarred from that. And I could never let myself do that to anybody," he said, shaking his head, blinking fast.

"It's okay, Shawn," Katy whispered, rubbing his shoulder.

"No, it's not. I'm so scared that I'll turn into him in that way. So when I see alcohol, it scares me. I know nothing can happen if I don't drink it, but then I wonder if someone'll tell me to drink. 'Just one glass,' they'll say. 'One glass won't hurt anything.' But one glass leads to another, and I can't. I know Cory and Topanga feel the same way. Cory watched me and won't let himself do it either. He doesn't have the memories I have, but he knows what it can do. He won't put his kids in that kind of place. And Topanga, well she's never had a sip in her life other than her wedding," Shawn said with a smirk. "She feels that alcohol is pure toxin for the body. Man, if you knew her back then, Katy."

He looked up at Katy and saw that her eyes were red and she had tears in her eyes.

"No, don't cry, Katy," Shawn said, wiping her eyes with his thumb. "You can't be sad just because I am. And besides, it's in the past."

Katy looked into his eyes and smiled. She saw a caring, gentle man.

"I know," she said. She leaned her head on his shoulder and they both sat silently for a while. Eventually, they fell asleep on the couch.

Maya, who had been standing at her door, slouched down to the floor. Her eyebrows crinkled as she tried to imagine what Shawn described. She thought about what he said. About his father, about when he hit Angela, and about how Cory and Topanga won't drink either. Now that she thought about it, she'd never seen any alcohol in the Matthews' apartment. She'd never seen them drink, ever. Then she remembered just a few hours ago, how she was sitting with Riley and Lucas at the table and how Riley'd been lost in thought. What had she been thinking about so intently?

"The past," Maya whispered to herself.


	14. The Past- Part 3

The same night, at the Matthews' apartment…

The Matthews walked into their apartment after the party at the Harts'. Topanga was carrying Serenity and Cory was helping Auggie stumble in tiredness to his room. Riley plopped down on the couch, still thinking about what her parents were talking about at the party. The thoughts hadn't left her mind since she heard their conversation.

Cory and Topanga returned from putting the two kids to bed and walked into the living room.

"Honey, aren't you going to bed?" Topanga asked Riley.

"Yeah, I will," Riley said, her mind elsewhere.

Topanga and Cory looked at each other, wondering what was up with Riley.

Cory walked carefully around the couch, his face scrunched up as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Riley didn't notice her dad staring at her, and Cory turned to look back at Topanga. She shrugged.

"Riley?" Cory asked.

"Yeah?" Riley answered, finally turning to her dad, her trance broken.

"Are you alright?" Cory asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Riley said. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" Cory asked carefully.

Riley turned to look at both of her parents and took a breath. She didn't know where to start.

"I heard your conversation today about Shawn," Riley said.

Topanga walked over to the couch and stood next to Cory.

"Sweetie, can't we talk about this in the morning?" Topanga asked. "It's really late and you need to be getting to sleep."

"It'll only take a second, Mom," Riley said. "It's important."

"Okay, fine," Topanga said. "You have five minutes."

"Thank you," Riley said. "So tell me about what you were talking about."

"What exactly?" Cory asked.

"About Shawn. You said that he doesn't drink. What happened?" Riley asked, eyes wide with innocence.

Cory and Topanga looked at each other, as if having a telepathic conversation on whether to talk about it.

Finally Topanga sat next to her daughter on the couch and said, "Bad things happened, Riley."

Cory sat next to Topanga and nodded in agreement.

"What kinds of things?" Riley asked.

"Well, Shawn drank, and he was a bad person when he did. He did it to take stress away when he was upset," Cory said.

"Oh," Riley said, deep in thought. "But why doesn't he drink now? I mean, he's older now."

"Yeah, he's older," Cory said. "But he hasn't drank in years. The truth is, I don't really know _exactly_ why, but at one point, everything just clicked. He just kind of had enough of himself drinking I think. There's been a lot of alcohol in his life and it's never led to anything good. So, for whatever reason, he doesn't drink."

"What do you mean 'it's never led to anything good?'" Riley asked. "Did something really bad happen?"

Cory looked at Topanga again, questioning if he should tell his daughter.

Topanga looked at Riley and said, "Well, sometimes drinking brings out the worst in people. And it does for Shawn. And he doesn't like it, and we don't like it. It hurts a lot of people. Every time he drank, something bad happened. It was never good for anyone."

Riley nodded in understanding. "Is that why you guys don't drink?"

"Part of the reason," Topanga said. "Personally, I decided not to drink a long time ago. I just don't feel that there's any purpose to it. I am perfectly happy and able to have a good time without drinking- and I still remember it the next day. There's just so many pluses to not drinking that I don't feel it's worth it."

"So have you ever drank?" Riley asked.

"The only drink I have ever had is fancy wine. And the only reason I drank that is because of weddings and other big things like that. But I just drank it for the tradition. Then I had a soda on the side," Topanga said with a smirk.

"What about you, Dad?" Riley asked.

"Well, I had a bad experience with it," Cory said. "And I just couldn't anymore after that. And then I saw everything that happened with Shawn when he drank. Then I really couldn't."

"What was your bad experience?"

Cory took a deep breath and looked at Topanga.

She smiled a small smile and nodded slightly.

He turned back to his daughter.

"When your mom and I were broken up, I drank. I thought it would make things better- but it didn't. It only made things worse. I won't go into details, but it ended badly. Nobody liked who I was when I drank, including me. Then imagine if I had been stupid enough to get into a car and drive home. Maybe we were lucky that the cops found us."

"You were picked up by the cops?!" Riley said, astonished.

"I'm not proud of it," Cory said, looking down. "But maybe it saved me from making an even dumber mistake. That was apparently the time of dumb mistakes for me," he added.

A small smirk came across Topanga's face and she rubbed his back.

"We're not saying that alcohol is bad," Topanga said.

"No, we're not," Cory said. "I mean, it's in the Bible for goodness sakes. Grandpa drinks every once in a while because he is responsible and he can handle it. It's a choice he has made. But it's never gotten out of hand for him. And he's old enough to drink," he said, pointing his finger at Riley.

"What?"

"Riley, I made some dumb mistakes when I was young. They all escalated until I made the mistake of drinking underage. It wasn't my worst mistake, but it was probably number two. And I'm telling you this as a warning. I don't want the same thing to happen to you. So please listen to what we're telling you and take it into consideration before you ever make a decision about it, okay?"

Riley nodded. "What was your worst mistake?"

Cory looked at his wife. "My worst mistake was not realizing how amazing and special my life was until I screwed it up. I was just lucky enough to get that back, even though I didn't deserve it."

Topanga smiled at him and kissed him softly.

Cory turned to his daughter.

"You're talking about Mom, aren't you?" Riley asked.

Cory nodded and smiled his crooked smile at his wife. She smiled back in adoration.

"When you find something as amazing and special as I did, you have to hold onto it. You can never risk it for anything because nothing is worth the risk of losing that. Nothing. If drinking ever creates a risk, it's not worth it."

Riley nodded. "Now I see where that was going. A lot of stuff happened to you guys, didn't it?"

Her parents nodded.

"I guess I need to remember that sometimes. It's just hard to picture you guys not being my parents and having your own individual lives."

Cory and Topanga chucked.

"Yes, well, believe it or not, we have lived on this earth for a while, and quite a bit has happened to us. We've only just begun to tell _you_ about it," Topanga said.

Riley's eyes grew wide.

Topanga stood up and held her hand out for Cory. He took her hand and stood up.

"Good night, sweetheart," Topanga said with a smile. She walked over and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"Good night, Mom."

"Good night, honey," Cory said.

"Good night, Dad."

Topanga put her arm around Cory's waist and they walked to their room.

Riley was left alone in the living room.

"The past," Riley said in bewilderment. "Woah."


	15. The Assignment

**Hey guys! So I have recently put a video up on YouTube and I wanted to tell you guys about it! It's a Corpanga video mashup thing. FanFiction won't let me put a link on my stories, but if you go on YouTube and type in "Corpanga Thinking Out Loud" it will come up. The picture is of Topanga with lipstick on her face during the "Donut in the Sky" poem. Thanks! I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)**

The next Monday at school, Maya walked in with a grin on her face.

Riley walked up to her and said, "Well, what happened with you?"

"Nothing," Maya said. "I'm just really glad that Shawn's back."

"Me too," Riley agreed. "I think it's about time he settled down and stayed in one place."

"That's what he thinks too," Maya said, walking to her locker.

"So is he staying with you guys then?" Riley asked.

"Yep. He's sleeping on the couch though. I kind of feel bad because we get to sleep in beds and he's sleeping on an uncomfortable, old couch every night."

"He sounds like quite a gentleman," Riley said. "That's weird."

Maya rolled her eyes and playfully punched Riley on the arm.

"He's very capable of being a gentleman," Maya said. "And it's kind of comforting, you know? Having my future stepfather be a good guy. I just really feel like everything's finally going to turn out fine."

"I'm glad for you, Maya," Riley said with a smile.

"Thanks, Riles."

Maya closed her locker and turned to face Riley.

"And thanks for keeping hope for me. It really means a lot."

"Hey, what are best friends for?" Riley said.

Maya smiled and the girls walked to their class.

xxxXXXxxx

"The people of the 60s were very split on political and social issues," Cory was saying. "There was a group of people who were all for love, peace, and self-expression. There was another group of people who were for order, tradition, and simplicity. These groups were against each other in most issues. In order to learn more about these people, we're going to do kind of a debate. Half the class will be in the first group and half will be in the second group. The debate will take place on Monday. Your job for the rest of the week is to learn as much as you can about your group and its way of thinking. The group that wins the debate gets an assignment pass. That means you can choose any assignment- not a test or project- that you don't want to do, and you don't have to do it."

Maya raised her hand.

"Yes, Maya?"

"So, you've previously said that teachers get assignments, right?"

"Yeah?" Cory said, confused.

"And your assignment is to teach us history, right?"

"Yes."

"So if I win the debate, can I use my assignment pass to-"

"No," Cory interrupted.

"But you never said it had to be _our_ assignment."

"Sorry, Maya," Cory said. "My contest, my rules."

Maya scowled and slouched in her seat.

Riley then raised her hand.

"Riley, please tell me your question pertains to the actual debate," Cory said, exasperated.

"Yeah, what will the debate actually be on?" Riley asked.

"That's the twist. The debate will be on issues of today. Your job is to use their perspective to solve political and social issues of today."

"What kinds of issues?" Lucas asked.

"Inequality between peoples, terrorism, the big debt America's in, budget spending, things like that."

Once the class seemed satisfied with the instructions, Cory split them up into their groups.

The love, peace, and self-expression group included Riley and Farkle, while the order, tradition, and simplicity group included Maya and Lucas.

"Mr. Matthews, you can't expect me to be in this group," Maya complained. "This goes against everything in me."

"Sorry, Maya. Maybe this will make you see things differently."

Maya scowled for the second time that class period and turned to Lucas.

"At least you fit right in," Maya said.

"Thank you," Lucas replied with a smile.

Maya's eyes grew wide and she slowly turned back around in her seat to face the front. Then she turned to Riley.

"You'd better have a good argument, because I'll know your strengths and weaknesses," Maya said slyly.

"Oh, it's on," Farkle said.

Riley just looked at Lucas and grinned.

"I'm sure it's going to be fun."

 **Alright, what do you guys think? I know it's kind of different than the rest of the story, but this will definitely be an interesting arc in the story…**

 **Please review and let me know what you think! Also, be sure to check out my video, Corpanga- Thinking Out Loud. Thanks for reading! :)**


	16. Studying

The next day in class, the two sides had already formed against each other. The self-expression side sat on the floor, reading from books and phones about the ways of their group. Riley sat in the corner, doing her work, but just wanting to get the project done. She was still serious about her work, regardless of her side. Farkle, who had gone too far with the project (as always), was wearing rainbow-striped pants, a tie-dye t-shirt, and sunglasses. He felt that he needed to embrace his side rather than simply learn about it.

On the tradition and simplicity-oriented side, they sat neatly at their desks. Riley saw that Lucas was perfectly content. He was silently reading to himself, and Riley could see a smile on his face. She scowled that he was happy with his assignment. She turned her head to look at Maya.

Maya was slouched in her chair, looking as if she were about to fall asleep. Her eyes were mostly closed, and her expression reflected one of complete and utter boredom. Her books sat closed on her desk, and she only somewhat listened to any conversation happening.

Riley sighed loudly and continued taking notes. Maya stirred at the noise, but soon she began snoring.

xxxXXXxxx

Three days passed similarly to the first before the students started to realize the true essence of their groups' beliefs.

"You know," Riley said to Farkle, "This stuff isn't half bad. At first I thought it was crazy, but now I think they might have been onto something."

"I know!" Farkle agreed excitedly. "Isn't it fascinating?!" he exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement.

Riley chuckled and nodded. "They just wanted everyone to get along. They believed that if everyone just stopped fighting and let people live and love, there would be world peace. Basically, they just felt that they should be able to do whatever they wanted as long as nobody hurt anybody else."

"What do you say, Riley? Should we create a club? We can call it, 'World Peace,'" Farkle said, his eyes lighting up.

"What would we do at the meetings?" she asked, amused.

"Just have a swell time," Farkle replied. "Eat some cookies, drink some tea. Just get along and have a swell time."

Riley laughed and shook her head.

In the tradition group, the students were also beginning to understand the belief system.

"There's nothing wrong with keeping everybody safe," Lucas said. "They wanted everyone to keep things the way they were, because things were good. They wanted to put families first so that people could grow and prosper."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Maya said. "Families should be put first."

"Are you agreeing with me?" Lucas asked with a smile, almost mocking Maya.

"No," Maya said stubbornly. "I'm agreeing with the strict guys from the 60s," she mumbled, crossing her arms.

Lucas smiled and nodded knowingly.

"Shut up, Ranger Rick," Maya teased, rolling her eyes. "It was bound to happen at some point. We're all humans, after all. I think," she said, glancing at Lucas.

He just chuckled and shook his head at Maya's teasing, returning to his studying.

"Alright class," Cory said. "Your time in here today is almost over. That means your studying and preparation time is over. I hope you're all well-prepared for the debate on Monday. From the looks of it, this'll be a very interesting discussion," he said with a smile.

Then the bell rang, ending their history class.

The students gathered their materials and stood up. The room cleared out relatively quickly, as it normally did on Fridays.

Riley and Farkle walked up to Maya and Lucas.

"So, do you guys want to do something this weekend?" Riley asked.

"I see what you're trying to do, Matthews," Maya said, eyeing Riley suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?" Riley asked, confused.

"You want to see what we know," Maya said, shaking her head in playful disappointment. "Well, I don't think so. I'm going to win this debate, Matthews." She pointed her finger and leaned in at Riley. "So that I don't have to do-" she stopped mid-sentence.

Maya looked up and her face contorted.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

"I can't care about this. What is happening to me?" Maya mumbled as she turned and walked away.

Riley smiled at her friend and then turned to Lucas.

"Do you want to hang out?" she asked, sort of shyly.

Lucas smiled. "Yeah, I'd love to."

"Great," Riley said, smiling back. She turned to Farkle. "Do you want to hang out with us?"

"No thanks, Riley," Farkle answered. "I need to study for the debate."

"But Farkle, you know more about our group than anyone else. Why would you need to study more?" Riley asked.

"You said it yourself!" Farkle exclaimed. "I know more about our group than anyone else! I'm carrying the team! If I don't know _everything_ about this group, then we have no hope!"

Lucas said, "Come on, Farkle. You can give it a break for a few hours, right?"

"I could," Farkle began. "But it's okay. You guys hang out. At least then it can just be the two of you."

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. Like I said, I have to carry the team." Then Farkle's eyes narrowed at Lucas. "Are you trying to distract me?"

"No, I just-"

"A likely story!" Farkle interrupted. He turned to Riley. "You'd better keep an eye on this one. Don't let him distract you from winning," he said, slowly backing away from Riley and Lucas.

Riley chuckled and turned to Lucas. "So, my house?"

"Sure," Lucas said with a smile.

They walked to their lockers, grabbed their books, and walked out the door of John Quincy Adams Middle School to head to the Matthews' apartment.

 **Thanks for reading the latest chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! Trust me, this debate will be quite an interesting one. The times, they are a-changin.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think! I know I've said it before, but I really love getting reviews. I love hearing any feedback you have! Tell me what you'd like to see in the coming chapters, what you liked, what you didn't like, anything!**

 **And- for all you Shaty fans out there- there will be more of that, soon. Don't worry.**

 **Also, I realize the chapters have been a little shorter lately, and I apologize. I just feel like these chapters are transition chapters to a new arc, so it's hard to make them longer. They will be longer in the future.**

 **Thank you so much for reading! :)**


	17. The Debate

That Monday, the students filed into the classroom, ready for the debate. Cory sat at his desk, watching them interact.

Maya and Riley walked in the room together without saying a word. They sat at their desks and looked at each other. Riley smiled sweetly and Maya copied back. Then they turned to face the front and their faces became serious.

Lucas walked in next. He saw Riley and smiled at her.

Riley, temporarily forgetting where she was, smiled back, lost in her thoughts about Lucas. They seemed to stay there for a few seconds, just looking at each other, until Cory cleared his throat.

They turned to look at their teacher. Cory looked disgusted with the whole scene and gave them a look as if to say, "Can you not?"

Riley snapped back to reality and looked down at her notes.

 _No distractions,_ she told herself.

Lucas went to his desk and then Farkle made his big entrance.

He dramatically walked in the door and looked around at the class.

"Hello," he greeted them distantly. He turned to the opposing side.

"I hope you're ready to lose," he said, trying to intimidate them.

"Well, Farkle," Maya began. "I hope it doesn't hurt too much when we burst your bubble, because we're going to win."

"Ha," Farkle mocked. "We'll see about that," he said, slowly walking to his seat.

"Alright class," Cory interrupted, standing up. "That's enough. It's time to see who's got what it takes. Let's see which side knows their values and can defend them." He walked to the front of his desk to face the kids. "So this is how the debate's going to work. I'll give the topic. You'll get thirty seconds to consult with your team, and then whoever raises their hand first gets to start the debate. We'll be respectful and let them state their side, and then we'll get a rebuttal from the opposing side. It'll continue like this either until I declare a winner or the other side has no rebuttal. Are you guys ready?"

There were some confident head nods throughout the room.

"Okay," Cory said. He grabbed a stack of notecards from his desk and read the first one. "The first topic is relationships between countries. How should they be conducted? Should they be based mostly on strategy and alliances or should they be more along the lines of a friendship? Your thirty seconds starts now."

The teams huddled together for their talking time.

They seemed to be very focused and had serious discussions. Cory was proud of his class for handling the debate so seriously.

When the thirty seconds was up, Cory said, "Time!"

Farkle immediately raised his hand.

"Yes, Farkle, you can start."

Farkle stood up. "We believe that America's relationship with other countries should be based on friendship. Friends not only help each other in times of need, but are always by your side in battles. If we create healthy friendships with other countries, it would benefit everyone the most." He sat back down.

"Thank you, Farkle. Rebuttal?" Cory asked, turning toward the opposing team.

Lucas raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Friar."

Lucas stood up.

"We believe that America's relationships with other countries should be strategy and alliance-based. We need to ensure our safety. That should be the first priority. We need to build relationships with countries that will protect us if need be. We should keep the relationships simple and not attached so that we don't get involved in unnecessary battles. We should never let our guard down because we can't completely trust everyone." Lucas sat back in his seat.

Riley then raised her hand.

"Miss Matthews," Cory said.

Riley stood up. Her face displayed concern.

"But you have to have friends. If you don't have a friendship first, then they could just leave you at any time. Keeping yourself safe is a priority, but it can't prevent you from putting yourself out there. And yeah, some people might lose your trust, but that doesn't mean everyone will." Riley sat down.

Lucas stood up. "Keeping America and its citizens safe is the first priority. It has to be. Otherwise our so-called 'friends' could turn around and attack us if they get mad. So we can't let our guard down." He sat down.

Riley stood up again, this time fiercer. "If those people turn around and attack you then they were never really a friend to begin with. And maybe you were never really their friend either. Because real friends don't do that. Real friends are always there for each other, and they always help each other out, even when it's hard. And if they want to move their friendship forward, and say, share a navy, then they should do it!" She sat back down, crossing her arms.

Lucas stood back up. "Countries are not meant to be great friends. They can't be. They disagree too much over so many things. How can they ever be good friends if that happens?" he said, worked up. Then he got quieter. "And…you can't share a navy with someone, Riley. People don't do that." He sat back down.

Maya looked between the two sides and made a face.

 _This is going to be bad,_ she thought.

Riley stood up again.

"Well, whatever. I'm just trying to say that if two people really cared about each other, then why shouldn't they trust each other completely and tell each other everything? They can't keep things from each other and secretly distrust the other person, Lucas. And maybe if that's how you think a relationship works…then you shouldn't be in one." Riley sunk into her seat.

Lucas stood up, looking at Riley, and said, "Riley, you know that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that you need to be careful with who you trust. You can't just go trusting people that you've barely known for a year and tell them everything when you don't know what they could do. For all you know, they could twist every word you say into something that you don't even know what it means! You're right, Riley. Friends don't do that!"

The entire class was silent.

After a few moments, Riley stood up slowly. She looked at Lucas and quietly said, "You're right. You win, Lucas. Congratulations."

"NO!" the class heard. They looked over to see Farkle, standing with his fist in the air. He stopped and looked at them, and then sat back in his desk in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Farkle," Riley said. "But Lucas is right. You can't be friends with and trust someone you've barely known for a year. And that's it."


	18. Bathroom Discussions

The debate went on, but Riley and Lucas didn't participate anymore. After Lucas's side lost their strongest player, Farkle took over and crushed the competition.

Finally the bell rang, and Riley practically ran out of the classroom. Maya jumped up and followed her quickly.

The class exited the room, leaving Lucas sitting in his desk, staring into space.

Cory walked over to Lucas.

"What happened out there?" Cory asked.

Lucas looked up. "I have no idea, sir."

"Well, I think you'd better figure it out. And right here is not the place to do it."

Lucas nodded and stood up. Cory walked back to his desk.

"Mr. Matthews?"

"Yeah?" Cory turned around.

"What do I do?"

Cory sighed and walked over to Lucas.

"You have to talk to her. And fix things. And I'm not only saying that because she's my daughter, but because she's your friend. You might have won the debate, but that doesn't mean you're right, Lucas. Trust me, that's a lesson I've learned and re-learned _many_ times."

Lucas nodded again and walked to the door. Before he walked out, he turned around and said, "Thanks."

Cory nodded, and Lucas left the classroom.

xxxXXXxxx

Maya found Riley sitting in the bathroom in the corner.

She sighed and walked over to her.

"There you are," Maya said.

"Here I am," Riley said, trying not to sound pathetic.

"What was that back there?"

"I don't know! One second we were talking about countries, and then we were talking about us. And it didn't sound good."

"Why not?"

"Didn't you hear what he said? He said that you can't trust someone you've only known for a year. You can't tell them everything. You can't let your guard down. Obviously he can't be in a relationship with me. That's what he said."

"Okay, I know that there were many levels of meaning in that conversation, and I may not be the sharpest crayon in the crayon box, but I don't think that's what he meant," Maya said.

"What else could he have meant?"

"Maybe that was him saying that he can't be friends with me," Maya said.

Riley gave her a look. "Yeah, okay."

"I mean it. He's known me for less than a year too, you know. Maybe he's saying he can't trust me."

"Okay, Maya, I get it. He could've been talking about a lot of things. But then why didn't he specify that?"

"Because you were talking about countries!"

Riley didn't respond.

"Okay. I think you need some time to chill. When you're ready, I'll be right outside that bathroom door waiting. Then we'll talk. But you really need to think rationally for me to help you."

Riley watched Maya stand up and then she walked out the door.

Riley was left alone with her thoughts for a while. She sat there for about fifteen minutes before there was a knock on the door. She looked up, confused. There was no one else in the bathroom, so she said, "Hello?"

Then the door opened and Harley peeked his head in the door.

"Anybody in here?" he asked. "Time for cleaning."

"Just me," Riley said.

"Perfect," Harley said. He disappeared, and Riley put her head down on her knees.

Then she heard the door open.

She looked up and saw Lucas standing there.

"Lucas, please go away. I just want to be alone."

He didn't really know what to say at first. A few moments passed and he said, "Then I'll be alone with you."

Riley sighed and put her head back down. She felt him sit next to her on the ground.

"What are you doing here? You can't just come in here. This is the girls' bathroom," Riley said.

"Yeah, I know. I got a tip from Maya that you were in here. And Harley said you were the only one in here. So here I am."

Riley looked up at him. "How could you say that?"

Lucas looked down at his hands. "I don't know," he said.

"That's not good enough."

"I know," he replied.

"I defended us. And you tore us apart and said we weren't good for each other. You said that you can't trust me and that we can't be together. How could you?" she said, trying not to let her voice break.

He looked at her and saw tears in her eyes.

"No, don't cry. I never meant for this to happen. I was just trying to win the debate, you know? I never meant to say anything that would hurt you."

"But you did, Lucas."

"I'm sorry, Riley. If I could take it back, I would."

"You said what you said. And you can't take it back."

"I want to. Riley, I'm so sorry. I would never hurt you on purpose."

"I know you wouldn't," Riley said.

"Good."

"But if this is what's inside your head, how can I go on like this never happened? How could you say those things?"

"Riley, listen to me. I trust you more than anyone else here. And you're right. We can't pretend that didn't happen. Because it did. But look where we are, Riley. We're at school. This is a place where we're supposed to learn. So we have to learn from this. And do you know what I learned?"

"What?"

"All those things I said are the little insecurities that I have in my head. They're all the reasons why my brain is telling me to not be with you. But do you know what else is in my head?"

Riley shook her head.

"All the reasons why I should be with you. Like how you make me smile all the time. And like how I _can_ trust you. And how you can make me laugh and be happy just by you being you. And how you're the reason why I'm glad I moved here."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Please don't be mad at me. Because I love you, Riley Matthews. And there's nobody I'd rather be with than you."

Riley smiled up at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a while, until Harley decided that he really did have to clean the bathrooms.


	19. Author Note

**Hey, guys.**

 **I cannot possibly express how sorry I am for not publishing another chapter in this long. I feel like I've let you guys down. I've just been so unbelievably busy. I know, that's a bad excuse, but it's true.**

 **Another reason why I haven't written in so long is because I just don't feel the story anymore.**

 **So here's what I'm going to do. If I get 25 reviews telling me to write another chapter, I will, and it will be the last one. If not, then the story will end with the last chapter. I'll give a little while. If I don't add another chapter, then that's it.**

 **I may possibly be writing a shorter story as a sequel for another one of my stories, Girl Meets Graduation. I've gotten a lot of reviews asking for it, and it honestly intrigues me to see what would happen afterward. I'm still throwing the idea around, but it could happen.**

 **Thank you all for reading my story. I appreciate each and every one of you! Again, I am so sorry for ending it like this. You all deserve a way better ending.**

 **Please check out the other GMW fanfics on here, because there are some really great ones!**

 **Until next time!**


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